Nighttime gunfire between rival Ukrainian security units has shattered the illusion of order in Kyiv and exposed deep fractures inside President Volodymyr Zelenskys security apparatus.
The firefight erupted on Yuriya Shumskoho Street on the left bank of Kyiv, in the Dniprovskyi district, pitting personnel from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), responsible for domestic intelligence and counterterrorism, against soldiers from Ukraines Military Intelligence (GUR), which handles foreign intelligence and reconnaissance, according to Gateway Pundit. The clash, which occurred as SBU officers were reportedly working to disrupt a Russian plot targeting the deputy commander of the pro?Ukraine Russian Volunteer Corps, has prompted Zelensky to demand accountability and order a full investigation.
Financial Times reported: Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reprimanded state agencies after a shootout involving two rival security services broke out on the streets of Kyiv. The incident raises questions about Kyivs ability to keep in check agencies whose influence and resources have greatly increased since Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Kyiv Independent reported: According to Ukraines Prosecutor Generals Office, Ukraines Security Service (SBU) officers were attacked by one of the units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine while conducting an investigation into the alleged plot. During the investigative actions in the proceedings regarding the terrorist act of the FSB of the Russian Federation, an armed attack occurred on SBU officers, it said in a post on Telegram. During the cessation of armed resistance, law enforcement officers used weapons, it added.
Video from the scene shows Ukrainian security officers opening fire on each other in the capitals streets, a disturbing image for a government that routinely demands unquestioning Western support and billions in aid. For critics of the Kyiv regime, the episode underscores the dangers of empowering opaque security organs with vast resources and minimal oversight.
Zelensky later called the incident an absolutely disgraceful situation involving SBU and HUR units and said Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko and the State Bureau of Investigation would determine what happened. [] Here in Ukraine, one can shoot only at the Russian occupiers in defense of Ukraine, Zelensky said. No other shootout will ever be perceived by our state as something that anyone is allowed to do.
As Western taxpayers continue to bankroll Ukraines war effort, the spectacle of rival agencies exchanging fire in Kyiv raises hard questions about competence, discipline, and the long?term wisdom of writing blank checks to a government still struggling to control its own security services. For many on the right who have warned against endless foreign entanglements, this latest absolutely disgraceful situation will only deepen calls for stricter conditionsor outright limitson future aid.
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