Ukrainian Domestic — 2026-09-03

Zelensky Demands Answers After Shootout Between SBU and Military Intelligence Agents in Kyiv

BLUFZelensky's swift dismissal of Khramov signals a preference for visible discipline over judicial process, making formal criminal charges against SBU or HUR officers unlikely within the next two months.

Gunfire broke out before dawn on September 2 in Kyiv's Berezniaky district between SBU and HUR personnel, waking residents who reported seeing wounded people and blood at the scene 1. The SBU initially said it was working with HUR to prevent a Russian "terrorist attack," then said it had repelled a group trying to block a search operation, while a commander of HUR's "Tymur" unit told RFE/RL that SBU agents detained HUR personnel and opened fire without warning 1. Ukrainska Pravda reported three HUR officers were wounded, and linked the clash to the SBU's search of the apartment of Stepan Kaplunov, a Russian Volunteer Corps deputy commander whose lawyer says was abducted on August 23 2. Zelensky called the incident "absolutely disgraceful," said only Russian occupiers should be shot at, and announced the Prosecutor General and State Bureau of Investigation would probe the episode and that personnel decisions would follow, including his same-day dismissal of SBU state-secrets department chief Oleh Khramov 123.

Analysis
Zelensky's same-day dismissal of SBU state-secrets chief Khramov substitutes visible personnel discipline for judicial accountability, and formal charges against SBU or HUR personnel are unlikely within the next two months: separate chains of command and an unresolved dispute over Kaplunov's custody complicate the clean prosecutorial narrative needed to move quickly. We hold high confidence in this judgment, given both services' consistent public finger-pointing and the absence of independent findings released alongside the dismissal. Three primary outlets sourced competing SBU, HUR, and lawyer accounts directly, converging on the timeline but not on who fired first, while the clash may reflect a turf fight over custody of Kaplunov and control of HUR-affiliated Russian proxy fighters rather than a genuine counterterrorism lapse. Continued silence over who ordered the raid invites further inter-service rivalry, and no charges by November would leave Western partners weighing continued intelligence cooperation against unresolved command-and-control risk between rival services.

4 sources