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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
In the night and morning of 2 September, shots were fired in the courtyard of an apartment building on Yurii Shumskoho Street in the Berezniaky residential area of Kyiv.
As it later turned out, the conflict occurred between employees of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR). It is now being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR), which must establish who and why opened fire.
HUR claims that SBU officers wounded three of their comrades. The SBU does not deny that it opened fire, but insists that it did so “to counter armed resistance” during a special operation to prevent the assassination of a Russian opposition figure commissioned by the FSB.
At the same time, the lawyer of Stepan Kaplunov — deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps within HUR’s special unit “Timur” — insists that the intelligence officers wanted to free his client, who a week earlier had been “kidnapped” by SBU officers.
Suspilne visited the scene, spoke with the parties and reports the details of the conflict between military intelligence and the SBU counterintelligence.
Negotiations under the tree
Near the third entrance of the nine-story building on Shumskoho Street in the capital’s Berezniaky — a puddle of blood. Nearby — State Bureau of Investigation officers in black uniforms. On the lawn in front of the building — several groups of armed men in camouflage and balaclavas: on the right, with green tape on the forearm, are SBU fighters; on the left, with blue tape, are HUR personnel.
Police cordoned off the area around the building with tape, closed the adjacent street to traffic and posted patrols. However, they did not intervene in the situation behind the tape, so they did not object when lawyer Taras Borovskyi, with blue tape on his forearm, lifted the tape and invited Suspilne journalists into the yard. Borovskyi — unarmed — says he is authorized to represent HUR of the Ministry of Defense.
HUR officers in the Berezniaky residential area in Dniprovskyi district of Kyiv, where the shooting occurred 2 September 2026 year.
Blood in the yard at the capital’s Berezniaky, where the shooting occurred 2 September 2026 year.
SBU fighters in Berezniaky, where the shooting occurred 2 September 2026 year.
In the middle of the lawn under a tree, a group of burly men in civilian clothes are talking about something among themselves.
“As you can see, here are the ‘peaceful negotiations’ of authorized representatives from the commanders of the respective units,” the lawyer explains vaguely, nodding toward the people in civilian clothes, and heads toward them.
An air raid siren sounds, but negotiations under the tree do not stop, even when explosions from air defenses are heard in the distance.
“If a ‘shahed’ is remotely controlled, everyone will have to hide, because it will be an insanely ‘fat’ target,” one of the fighters with blue tape says to us, nodding toward the negotiators and the military on the lawn.
He refuses to talk about why he is here and what is happening. The fighters with green tape also do not comment and insistently ask not to film the faces of participants.
Negotiations between representatives of the security services at the site of the shooting in Berezniaky, 2 September 2026 year.
After 20 minutes, the negotiations end. The fighters with blue tape receive the order to withdraw, so they leave the lawn and head toward parked cars nearby. The military with green tape move in the other direction. Some of them accompany DBR investigators who are walking with a man in a gray hooded sweatshirt. Lawyer Borovskyi claims that this is an SBU counterintelligence officer who shot at HUR personnel a few hours earlier.
“Let’s put it this way: agreements about peace were reached between the commanders of the competing sides,” Borovskyi explains. A few minutes later, only DBR officers and police remain in the building’s yard.
HUR fighters near the nine-story building on Shumskoho Street in the capital’s Berezniaky, 2 September 2026 year.
Police cordoned off the area around the building with tape, closed the adjacent street to traffic and posted patrols, but they did not intervene in the situation behind the tape.
The shooting at night and in the morning
It was from Borovskyi’s Facebook posts that Suspilne learned that a conflict between HUR service members and the SBU had been going on since the night in the courtyard on Shumskoho. The lawyer published several videos from the scene with short comments.
From Borovskyi’s posts it emerged that SBU operatives arrived at the building on Shumskoho Street; later, HUR service members and, in particular, the commander of the HUR Ministry of Defense special unit “Timur” arrived there. A man in a gray hooded sweatshirt is also visible in the video.
What exactly the representatives of the two services were saying is unclear from the videos, but the exchange looked tense. The SBU insisted they were acting on the basis of an order to conduct urgent investigative actions. HUR members demanded to be shown that order and to be allowed to access their commander’s location. The videos also show both sides were armed.
“Let the commander pass, and it will be calmer for everyone,” a voice heard on the video says.
“We’ll stay here — and that’s it!” the fighters with ‘SBU’ patches insisted.
In the morning, the SBU reported that, together with HUR, it had prevented a terrorist attack that the Russian FSB was preparing “against one of the leaders of the Russian opposition political movement who arrived in Ukraine on the occasion of Independence Day.”
“Operational and investigative actions are being carried out,” the agency noted, but did not provide further details.
HUR members with blue tape on the forearm near the nine-story building on Shumskoho Street in Berezniaky, 2 September 2026 year.
A local man walks his dog in the yard on Shumskoho Street in Berezniaky while negotiations between the security services take place, 2 September 2026 year.
Lawyer Borovskyi explained to Suspilne that there is an apartment in the building on Shumskoho Street where HUR personnel who are not stationed in the capital stay. In particular, Deputy Commander of the RDK for combat operations Stepan Kaplunov stayed there.
According to the lawyer, in 23 August unknown persons detained Kaplunov in the courtyard of that building, put him in a car and took him away in an unknown direction. Borovskyi also published video of the incident on Facebook. Since then, Borovskyi says he has tried to find out his client’s whereabouts: he wrote appeals to HUR, DBR, SBU and the Verkhovna Rada Ombudsman. He received no answers. 1 September the RDK reported Kaplunov’s kidnapping.
According to the lawyer, Stepan Kaplunov joined the Defense Forces in 2014 year and since then fought in various units, including Azov, the Right Sector and ultimately the RDK. In 2022 year Kaplunov took part in the defense of Kyiv. During the battle for the village of Lukianivka near Brovary he received a serious wound. After recovery he continued service, and a month ago the head of HUR awarded him the medal “For Military Service to Ukraine.”
Deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps within HUR MO Stepan Kaplunov. His lawyer Taras Borovskyi claims that on 2 September HUR intelligence officers tried to free his client on Berezniaky, whom SBU officers had “kidnapped” a week earlier. Photo provided to Suspilne by lawyer Taras Borovskyi.
At night on 1 September Kaplunov again appeared in the Shumskoho building — accompanied by officers from the SBU Counterintelligence Department and the service’s Main Investigative Directorate.
“They brought him here to conduct a search. However, they were very surprised that HUR fighters were in the apartment, who raised the alarm,” the lawyer says.
After that, Borovskyi claims, other HUR officers began to gather at the Shumskoho building, but SBU fighters fired warning shots at them and later detained three HUR members. When the “main forces” of HUR arrived, including the commander of the special unit “Timur,” negotiations began between the sides.
Borovskyi says that the HUR personnel, who at that time were significantly more numerous, agreed with the SBU that the latter would release the three detained comrades, after which the SBU officers would leave the yard.
When asked what happened to Kaplunov, his lawyer replied: “I saw him on the street, he was coming out, sitting on a bench surrounded by SBU officers. Where he is now I do not know, but as far as I understand, he is no longer in captivity.”
SBU fighters near the nine-story building in Berezniaky where RDK Deputy Commander Stepan Kaplunov lives, 2 September 2026 year.
DBR investigators at the site of the shooting between security service fighters in Berezniaky, 2 September 2026 year.
Before dawn, the lawyer claims, SBU reinforcements arrived — fighters from the special unit “Alpha.” It was then, Borovskyi says, that a new shooting occurred: this time with casualties.
HUR fighters, the lawyer claims, tried to prevent the SBU from taking the three comrades they had detained earlier that night and kept in handcuffs in the yard. In response, the SBU first fired warning shots, then wounded three intelligence officers.
“Our friend and comrade was seriously wounded, and we are praying and keeping our fingers crossed for his health. Two more of our comrades were also wounded,” lawyer Borovskyi said. He added that after the shooting the SBU took away the three HUR members who had been detained earlier.
After the second shooting, additional HUR reinforcements arrived at the building’s yard, as well as DBR officers. During the first negotiations the sides agreed to allow DBR officers to carry out investigative actions regarding the shooting. While DBR officers worked in the yard, negotiations continued.
An HUR fighter in Berezniaky, where the shooting occurred 2 September 2026 year.
There were significantly more HUR personnel at the site of the shootout and subsequent negotiations than SBU representatives.
What the SBU says
Closer to noon, when SBU and HUR officers had already left, the Security Service published its version of events. It insists that, as part of the investigation into the preparation of the above-mentioned FSB terrorist attack, SBU officers were conducting urgent investigative actions and collecting evidence.
“While searching one of the addresses, a group of persons carried out an armed attack on the SBU operational-investigative group. They tried to obstruct the investigative actions and blocked the law enforcement officers’ access with vehicles,” the agency said.
The SBU also reported that it involved the Alpha special unit of the Special Operations Center to stop the attack.
“During the suppression of armed resistance, law enforcement officers used weapons. As a result of the incident there are injured among the persons who resisted,” the SBU said, adding that it established that the detainees belong to one of the Defense Forces’ special units.
The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced the start of a pretrial investigation on the grounds of threats and encroachment on the life of a law enforcement officer.
“The Security Service of Ukraine, without question, conducts some counterintelligence work, and maybe they have some questions about representatives of the RDK who might be communicating with someone in Russia. But we have the Criminal Procedure Code, which provides procedures for arrest, notification of suspicion and choosing a preventive measure. Kidnapping a person on the street is not provided for by it,” lawyer Borovskyi said.
RDK commander Denys Kapustin also appeared near the Shumskoho building, although after the departure of SBU and HUR fighters. He told Suspilne that he was present during the DBR officers’ investigative actions.
“There is a search protocol; nothing was seized; no suspicious or compromising items were found in Stepan Kaplunov’s apartment,” he said. He refused to comment further on the story about Stepan Kaplunov.
RDK commander Denys Kapustin (center) also arrived in Berezniaky, 2 September 2026 year.
Kirill Budanov, head of the Office of the President who previously led HUR, in a comment to RBC-Ukraine called on the DBR and the Prosecutor General’s Office, which are investigating the shooting, “to conduct it thoroughly and impartially.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky also insists on a detailed investigation. In his evening address he called the shooting on Shumskoho “an absolutely shameful situation between certain units of the SBU and HUR.”
“There must be accountability, including personnel decisions by the heads of the special services regarding participants in what happened, and there must be internal investigations in both services,” Zelensky said, adding that no other shooting will ever be “perceived by our state as something anyone is allowed to do.”
Police at the scene in Dniprovskyi district of Kyiv, 2 September 2026 year.
An SBU fighter near the nine-story building in Berezniaky while negotiations between security service representatives are taking place nearby, 2 September 2026 year.
Previous conflict
The shooting on Shumskoho in Kyiv is not the first open conflict between HUR and the SBU since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the start of the invasion in March 2022, SBU counterintelligence officers shot dead banker Denys Kireiev in central Kyiv; he was a member of the Ukrainian contact group for negotiations with Russia.
This information, citing Kyrylo Budanov, who at that time led HUR, was published by The Wall Street Journal in January 2023. Budanov then called Kireiev a Ukrainian intelligence officer who, a few days before the Russian invasion, had traveled illegally to Russia. There he had influential acquaintances and was able to pass to Budanov information about the timing and direction of the attack. Under the patronage of the then-head of HUR, the president added Kireiev to the Ukrainian contact group for negotiations with Russia. However, the day before its second meeting, Kireiev was shot dead.
The SBU did not officially report how Kireiev died. Meanwhile, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia almost immediately after the banker’s death, citing sources in the special service, reported that he was killed accidentally during an arrest on suspicion of state treason. After that, the SBU reported that during the arrest it had eliminated a Russian spy, without naming him or providing details of the operation.
Budanov secured that Kireiev be buried with honors at Baikove Cemetery and be posthumously awarded as an intelligence officer. In 2026, after being appointed head of the Office of the President, Kyrylo Budanov again confirmed this information to Babel. At that time the DBR also launched an official investigation, but its results were not disclosed.
HUR personnel near the residential building in the Berezniaky neighborhood where the shooting occurred 2 September 2026 year.
Authors: Maksym Kamenev, Oleksandr Mahula
Source: SUSPILNE
What HUR says?
“Timur’s special unit” of HUR MO provided a video comment from its commander in response to Radio Liberty’s request:
“A combat commander of one of HUR’s units was kidnapped in broad daylight by employees of the Security Service of Ukraine. He was held without official charges. Of course you wonder why; we also want to know, so we are doing everything on our side so that procedural actions are carried out in accordance with current legislation. I would like to thank the commander of ‘Alpha,’ who personally came with me to resolve the situation at the scene.”
“But, unfortunately, after reaching an agreement to continue all procedural actions in accordance with current legislation, for reasons unknown to us other SBU officers who have nothing to do with SBU’s ‘Alpha’ began detaining HUR employees and opened fire without warning on unarmed HUR personnel to whom I had ordered not to respond to any provocations.” “We believe that the Prosecutor General’s Office and the DBR will complete this case with dignity.”
People’s Deputy of Ukraine from the Servant of the People faction, Fedir Venislavskyi, is convinced that there were no grounds to use weapons during the morning clash.
And what happened is “unacceptable from the point of view of law, common sense, morality and ethics.” Venislavskyi said that the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security summoned the heads of HUR and the SBU to a meeting. He promised that tomorrow, after the committee meeting, if there are no dissemination restrictions, he will disclose the details of the case.
People’s Deputy of Ukraine from the Servant of the People faction, Fedir Venislavskyi, is convinced that there were no grounds to use weapons during the morning clash.
And what happened is “unacceptable from the point of view of law, common sense, morality and ethics.” Venislavskyi said that the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security summoned the heads of HUR and the SBU to a meeting. He promised that tomorrow, after the committee meeting, if there are no dissemination restrictions, he will disclose the details of the case.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Нічна перестрілка у дворі Києва: подробиці скандального зіткнення спецслужб на Шумського". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: HAB Media.
