Kirill Budanov, Head of the President’s Office, has called for a thorough and impartial investigation into the armed incident in Kyiv. According to him, the case is being handled by the State Bureau of Investigations and the Office of the Prosecutor General. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) states that it used firearms during investigative operations in a case concerning the Russian FSB’s preparation of a terrorist attack.
Briefly about the main points
- Budanov is calling for a legal assessment of the use of weapons and possible measures to be taken against the military personnel.
- The SBU carried out investigative work in connection with the case concerning the planning of a Russian terrorist attack.
- The security service reports that there has been armed resistance and that law enforcement officers have been prevented from passing.
- The SBU has provisionally identified members of the Defence Forces amongst those detained.
- The roles of those involved and the legal classification of their actions are still being determined by the investigation.
Budanov: Illegal actions and the shooting must be subject to a legal assessment
In a comment to RBC-Ukraine Budanov stated that, regardless of the circumstances in which weapons are used, any possible unlawful actions against military personnel must be assessed within the framework of the law.
«No one has the right to abduct military personnel with impunity, open fire on the streets of our cities, or issue and carry out criminal orders,» he said. The Head of the Presidential Office emphasised that the investigation must establish all the circumstances of the incident without bias.
The SBU’s version: resistance during a search in connection with the investigation into the planning of a terrorist attack
According to the SBU, its officers were carrying out urgent investigative measures in the case concerning the FSB’s planning of a terrorist attack against one of the leaders of the Russian opposition political movement.
The security service claims that a group of armed individuals attempted to disrupt the search and blocked the law enforcement officers« passage with their vehicles. A special unit of the SBU’s Central Security Service »A’ was called in to quell the resistance, after which firearms were used.
The SBU reported that there were casualties amongst those who, according to its information, had put up resistance, and that the attackers had been detained. During the initial operations, weapons and documents were seized from the detainees, who were identified as members of one of the units of the Ukrainian Defence Forces.
Media reports and the related statement regarding Kaplunov’s disappearance
The incident took place on the morning of 2 September in Bereznyaky, in the Dniprovskyi district of Kyiv. The police had cordoned off Yuri Shumsky Street, and officers at the scene described their actions as a special police operation.
«Ukrainska Pravda», citing sources, reported on a confrontation between representatives of the SBU and the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), and that three GUR representatives had been wounded. Earlier, the Russian Volunteer Corps had announced that its deputy commander for combat operations was missing Stepan Kaplunov; The State Bureau of Investigation confirmed that it had received a statement from his lawyers.
The media are linking these events to the shooting, but this connection has not yet been established. The SBU is investigating the role of each participant, the sequence of events leading to the use of weapons, and the final legal classification of the detainees’ actions; no conclusions have yet been reached regarding who is to blame.
