Nighttime shooting in a Kyiv courtyard: details of the high‑profile conflict between security services on Shumskoho

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 officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR). It is now being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigations (DBR), which must determine who and why opened fire.

HUR claims that SBU officers wounded three of their comrades. The SBU does not deny that it fired shots, but insists it did so “to counter armed resistance” during a special operation to prevent the murder of a Russian opposition figure at the behest of 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 tried to free his client, whom SBU officers had “abducted” a week earlier.

Suspilne visited the scene, spoke with the parties, and recounts the details of the conflict between military intelligence and SBU counterintelligence.

Negotiations under the tree

Near the third entrance of the nine‑story building on Shumskoho Street in Kyiv’s Berezniaky — a pool of blood. Nearby — State Bureau of Investigations 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 their forearms, are SBU fighters; on the left, with blue tape, are HUR personnel.

Police cordoned off the area around the building with tape, shut the neighboring street to traffic, and posted patrols. However, they did not intervene inside the cordon, 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 at the Berezniaky residential area in the Dnipro district of Kyiv, where the shooting occurred on 2 September 2026.

Blood in the courtyard at Berezniaky in Kyiv, where the shooting occurred on 2 September 2026.

SBU fighters at Berezniaky, where the shooting occurred on 2 September 2026.

In the middle of the lawn beneath a tree, a group of burly men in civilian clothes are talking among themselves.

“As you can see, these are ‘peaceful negotiations’ between authorized representatives of the commanders of the respective units,” the lawyer explains vaguely, nodding toward the people in civilian clothes, and walks toward them.

An air raid siren sounds, but the negotiations under the tree do not stop, even when distant explosions from air defense work are heard.

“If a ‘Shahed’ drone is controlled remotely, everyone will have to hide, because it’s such a ‘fat’ target,” one of the fighters with blue tape tells us, nodding at the negotiators and the servicemen on the lawn.

He refuses to discuss why he is there or what is happening. The fighters with green tape also decline to comment and insist that faces of participants not be filmed.

Negotiations between representatives of the security services at the scene of the shooting in Berezniaky, 2 September 2026.

After 20 minutes the negotiations end. The fighters with blue tape receive an order to withdraw, so they leave the lawn and head to parked cars nearby. The soldiers with green tape move in the other direction. Some of them accompany DBR investigators who are leading a man in a gray hooded sweatshirt. Lawyer Borovskyi claims this is an SBU counterintelligence officer who a few hours earlier shot at HUR personnel.

“Let’s put it this way: an agreement on peace was 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 Berezniaky, 2 September 2026.

Police cordoned off the area around the building with tape, shut the neighboring street to traffic, and posted patrols, but they did not intervene inside the cordon.

Shooting at night and in the morning

It was from Borovskyi’s Facebook posts that Suspilne learned there had been a conflict between HUR servicemen and SBU officers in the courtyard on Shumskoho since the night. The lawyer published several videos from the scene with brief comments.

From Borovskyi’s posts it emerged that SBU servicemen arrived at the Shumskoho building, then HUR servicemen also arrived there, including the commander of HUR’s special unit “Timur.” A man in a gray hooded sweatshirt is also visible in the videos.

The videos do not make clear exactly what the two services’ representatives were discussing, but the interaction looked tense. SBU officers insisted they were acting on the basis of an order to conduct urgent investigative actions. HUR personnel demanded to be shown that order and to be allowed access to their commander’s location. The videos also show both sides armed.

“Let the commander pass, and everyone will be calmer,” a voice on the video can be heard saying.

“We will stay here — period!” insisted the fighters with ‘SBU’ patches.

In the morning, the SBU announced that, together with HUR, it had prevented a terrorist attack that the Russian FSB had been preparing “against one of the leaders of the Russian opposition political movement who arrived in Ukraine for Independence Day.”

“Operational and investigative actions are being carried out,” the service said, but gave no further details.

HUR personnel with blue tape on their forearms near the nine‑story building on Shumskoho Street in Berezniaky, 2 September 2026.

A local man walking his dog in the courtyard on Shumskoho Street in Berezniaky while negotiations between the security services are taking place, 2 September 2026.

Lawyer Borovskyi told Suspilne that there is an apartment in the Shumskoho building where HUR servicemen who are not stationed in the capital stay. In particular, deputy commander for combat operations Stepan Kaplunov used to stay there.

According to the lawyer, in 23 August unknown persons detained Kaplunov in the courtyard of that building, put him in a car and drove him off in an unknown direction. Borovskyi also published video of that incident on Facebook. Since then, Borovskyi says, he tried to clarify his client’s whereabouts: he sent inquiries to HUR, DBR, the SBU, and the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights. He received no answers. On 1 September the RDK reported the abduction of Kaplunov.

Borovskyi says Stepan Kaplunov joined the Defense Forces in 2014 and since then fought in various units, including Azov, the Right Sector, and eventually the RDK. In 2022 Kaplunov participated in the defense of Kyiv. During the battle for the village of Lukianivka near Brovary he sustained a serious wound. After recovery he continued to serve, and a month ago the head of HUR awarded him the medal “For Military Service to Ukraine.”

Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps within HUR’s special unit “Timur.” His lawyer Taras Borovskyi claims that on 2 September HUR intelligence officers tried to free his client, whom SBU officers had “abducted” 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 of the SBU Counterintelligence Department and the service’s Main Investigative Directorate.

“They brought him here to conduct a search. But they were very surprised to find HUR fighters in the apartment, who raised the alarm,” the lawyer says.

After that, Borovskyi claims, more HUR officers began arriving at the Shumskoho building, but the SBU fighters opened warning fire at them and later detained three HUR members. When the HUR “main forces” arrived, including the commander of the special unit “Timur,” negotiations began between the sides.

Borovskyi claims that the HUR personnel, who were then significantly more numerous, agreed with the SBU that the SBU 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. I do not know where he is now, but, as I understand it, he is no longer in captivity.”

SBU fighters near the nine‑story building in Berezniaky, where deputy RDK commander Stepan Kaplunov lives, 2 September 2026.

DBR investigators at the site of the shooting between security service fighters in Berezniaky, 2 September 2026.

Before dawn, the lawyer says, reinforcements arrived for the SBU — fighters from the special unit “Alpha.” It was then, according to Borovskyi, that a new shooting occurred, this time with victims.

The HUR fighters, the lawyer claims, tried to prevent the SBU from removing the three comrades whom the SBU had detained earlier in the night and were holding in handcuffs in the yard. In response, SBU officers initially fired warning shots, and then wounded three intelligence officers.

“Our friend and comrade was seriously wounded, and we pray and keep 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 previously detained HUR members.

After the second shooting, more HUR reinforcements arrived at the building’s yard, as well as DBR officers. During the initial negotiations the sides agreed to allow DBR officers to carry out investigative actions concerning the shooting. While DBR officers worked in the yard, negotiations continued.

An HUR serviceman at Berezniaky, where the shooting occurred on 2 September 2026.

There were far more HUR personnel at the site of the shootout and subsequent negotiations than SBU representatives.

What the SBU says

Closer to noon, after SBU and HUR officers had already left, the Security Service released its version of events. It insists that, as part of the investigation into the planned FSB terrorist act mentioned above, its officers were conducting urgent investigative actions and collecting evidence.

“During a search at one of the addresses, a group of persons carried out an armed attack on the SBU’s operational‑investigative group. They tried to obstruct the investigative actions and blocked law enforcement vehicles with cars,” the service said.

The SBU also reported that to stop the attack it called in the Special Operations Center unit “Alpha.”

“During the suppression of armed resistance, law enforcement officers used weapons. As a result of the incident, there are wounded among the persons who were resisting,” the SBU said, adding that it had established that the detained individuals belong to one of the Defense Forces’ special units.

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine reported that a pretrial investigation has begun on the facts of threat and attempted encroachment on the life of a law enforcement officer.

“The Security Service of Ukraine, no doubt, conducts some counterintelligence work, and perhaps they have questions about RDK members who may communicate with someone in Russia. However, we have a Criminal Procedure Code that prescribes the procedure for detention, notification of suspicion, and preventative measures. The code does not provide for abducting a person on the street,” lawyer Borovskyi said.

RDK commander Denys Kapustin also appeared near the Shumskoho building, although after the SBU and HUR fighters had left. He told Suspilne that he was present during DBR officers’ investigative actions.

“There is a search protocol, nothing was seized, and no suspicious or compromising items were found in Stepan Kaplunov’s apartment,” he said. He refused to comment further on Kaplunov’s case.

RDK commander Denys Kapustin (center) also came to Berezniaky, 2 September 2026.

Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Budanov, who previously led HUR, told RBC‑Ukraine that he urged the DBR and the Office of the Prosecutor General, which are investigating the shooting, “to conduct it thoroughly and impartially.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 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 internal investigations must take place in both services,” Zelenskyy said, adding that no other shooting will ever be “permitted by our state as something anyone is allowed to do.”

Police at the scene in the Dnipro district of Kyiv, 2 September 2026.

An SBU fighter near the nine‑story building in Berezniaky where negotiations between representatives of the security services are taking place, 2 September 2026.

Previous conflict

The shooting on Shumskoho in Kyiv is not the first open conflict between HUR and the SBU during Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine. At its start in March 2022, SBU counterintelligence officers shot and killed banker Dmytro Kiriiev in central Kyiv, a member of Ukraine’s contact group for negotiations with Russia.

This information, citing Kyrylo Budanov, who at that time headed HUR, was published by The Wall Street Journal in January 2023. Budanov then called Kiriiev a Ukrainian intelligence officer who had illegally traveled to Russia days before the invasion. There he met influential acquaintances and was able to pass Budanov information about the timing and direction of the attack. Under the protection of the then‑head of HUR, the president added Kiriiev to Ukraine’s contact group for negotiations with Russia. However, before its second meeting Kiriiev was shot dead.

The SBU officially did not report how Kiriiev died. At the same time, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia reported almost immediately after the banker’s death, citing sources in the security service, that he was killed accidentally during an arrest on suspicion of treason. After that the SBU said that it had liquidated a Russian spy during the arrest, without naming him or providing details of the operation.

Budanov arranged for Kiriiev to be buried with honors at Baikove Cemetery and posthumously awarded him as an intelligence officer. In 2026, after Budanov’s appointment as head of the President’s Office, he again confirmed this information to Babel. DBR also opened an official investigation at that time, but its results were not reported.

An HUR officer near the apartment building in the Berezniaky residential area where the shooting occurred on 2 September 2026.

Authors: Maksym Kamieniev, Oleksandr Mahula

Source: SUSPILNE

What does HUR say?

HUR’s ‘Timur’ special unit provided a video comment from its commander in response to a request from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

“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 are interested in the reason; we are too, so we are doing everything on our side to ensure procedural actions take place in accordance with current legislation. I would like to thank the commander of ‘Alpha,’ who came personally with me to resolve the situation at the scene.”

“But, unfortunately, after reaching an agreement to continue all procedural actions according to the law, for unknown reasons other SBU employees who have nothing to do with SBU ‘Alpha’ began detaining HUR personnel and opened fire without warning on unarmed HUR officers whom I had ordered not to respond to any provocations. We believe the Office of the Prosecutor General and the DBR will properly conclude this case.”

People’s Deputy from the Servant of the People faction Fedir Venislavskyi is convinced there were no grounds to use weapons during the morning clash.

He called what happened “unacceptable from the point of view of law, common sense, morality and ethics.” Venislavskyi said the Verkhovna Rada committee on national security summoned the heads of HUR and the SBU to a meeting. He promised that after the committee session tomorrow, if there are no restrictions on releasing information, he will reveal details of the case.

People’s Deputy from the Servant of the People faction Fedir Venislavskyi is convinced there were no grounds to use weapons during the morning clash.

He called what happened “unacceptable from the point of view of law, common sense, morality and ethics.” Venislavskyi said the Verkhovna Rada committee on national security summoned the heads of HUR and the SBU to a meeting. He promised that after the committee session tomorrow, if there are no restrictions on releasing information, he will reveal details of the case.