A shocking Kyiv ambush claimed the life of a top Ukrainian intelligence officer Thursday morning, renewing fears of Russian aggression on Ukrainian soil. Col. Ivan Voronych of the Security Service of Ukraine walked to his vehicle around 9 a.m. when an unknown assailant shot him five times with a pistol before fleeing, Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported.
“A criminal investigation has been opened into the murder of an SSU employee in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district,” a spokesperson for the Ukrainian agency told the outlet. “The Security Service and the National Police are taking comprehensive measures to establish all the circumstances of the crime and bring those responsible to justice.”
Voronych, who led high-level special operations and counter-terrorism within Ukraine’s security service, died at the scene. Former Ukrainian intelligence officer Roman Chervinsky described the brutality: “With five shots at close range while leaving the apartment today… the enemy killer did his dirty work,” The Telegraph reported.
Ihar Mosiychuk, a former Ukrainian parliament member, directly blamed Russia’s special services for the assassination. Kyiv Police confirmed: “Police officers are establishing the circumstances of the shooting in the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv … The person involved in the crime is being identified, and measures are being taken to detain him.”
This attack comes weeks after Moscow suffered its own blow when a Russian general died in a car bombing outside Moscow in April.
