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One dead, two wounded — Kiev still tense after night shootout between SBU and GUR

121,547 views • 12 days ago •via X (Twitter)

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🇺🇦⚔️🇺🇦 Everything We Know About the SBU vs. GUR Shootout in Kiev Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) and its Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) shot at each other in the street. Here's the full story, from the abduction to the political fight now exploding into public view. 🔸️The abduction (Aug 23). Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) — a Russian far-right unit fighting alongside Ukraine's forces, designated a terrorist organization in Russia — says he was seized outside his home in Kiev by men who identified as police. No papers, no charges, just cuffed and shoved into a black BMW. He was moved between vehicles, blindfolded, and held for 9 days across two facilities. He says he wasn't physically tortured but was threatened with "disappearing" — and under that pressure, falsely confessed to contact with Russia's FSB. 🔸️The shootout (Sept 2). Kaplunov was brought back to his residence for an "official" search. His own RDK unit was already guarding the apartment. During the search, SBU's "Alpha" special forces tried to detain arriving, unarmed GUR officers — and opened fire on them. Between 2 and 10 GUR fighters were wounded; one reportedly died. Fighters from the GUR unit commanded by "Timur" ultimately took Kaplunov back by force. 🔸️SBU's official version. SBU claims Kaplunov was plotting, on FSB orders, to assassinate a Russian opposition figure planning to visit Ukraine for Independence Day. They released chat screenshots showing a contact offering $50,000+ per "hit" in Ukraine, funded from Russia — and a video "confession" from Kaplunov. Problem: in that video he's wearing sunglasses, despite saying he'd been blindfolded for days. SBU says he cooperated voluntarily; Kaplunov says it was extracted under threat after over a week of secret, unacknowledged detention. 🔸️GUR's response. Without naming SBU directly, GUR issued a statement warning of a "targeted campaign to discredit military intelligence," accusing unnamed actors of paying media and Telegram channels to spread the SBU narrative. It urged trust only in "verified official sources." 🔸️What's actually driving this. Ukrainian political analysts trace it to a personal feud between Budanov (Head of the Presidential Office, former GUR chief) and Poklad (acting SBU chief) — rooted in the 2022 killing of GUR-linked negotiator Denis Kireev, which Budanov blamed on people now aligned with Poklad. With Zelensky preparing to push Poklad's confirmation through the Rada, Budanov was positioned to sabotage the vote. Kaplunov's detention — explicitly targeting commander "Timur," a figure close to Budanov — reads as SBU's preemptive move to defang him first. 🔸️Zelensky's calculation. Analysts doubt SBU moved without presidential sign-off — the Prosecutor General's Office, which answers to Zelensky, has echoed SBU's version. But Zelensky has reversed course before under pressure (see: last year's law subordinating anti-corruption bodies to his office, scrapped after EU pushback). If the information war — which Budanov's camp is already winning — turns against SBU, he may quietly wind this down. Or he could let SBU go all the way, which could mean Budanov's political end. 🔸️Bottom line: This is a proxy war over who controls Ukraine's security apparatus, dressed up as a counterintelligence operation. The outcome will shape whether Budanov survives as a future presidential contender, whether Poklad keeps SBU, and whether Zelensky feels emboldened to move against NABU and SAPO next.

DD Geopolitics

57,277 views • 11 days ago