Ukraine has announced the killing of two Russian agents following the assassination of senior Ukrainian intelligence officer Col Ivan Voronych, who was shot dead in broad daylight in a Kyiv car park on Thursday. According to Vasyl Malyuk, head of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), the two agents—identified as foreign nationals—were tracked and “liquidated” after resisting arrest on Sunday.
CCTV footage confirmed by Reuters showed a man approaching and shooting Col Voronych in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district around 09:00 local time. The SBU reported that the assailants had been monitoring Voronych’s movements and were provided with coordinates for a hiding spot where they retrieved a pistol with a silencer. Following the assassination, they attempted to evade detection but were found through a joint operation with national police.
The SBU, Ukraine’s main internal security agency, has been active in covert operations, including sabotage and assassinations, since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukrainian sources previously attributed the deaths of high-ranking Russian officers, such as Gen Igor Kirillov in December 2024 and Gen Yaroslav Moskalik in April 2025, to SBU-led operations, although Ukraine has not officially confirmed responsibility.
The killings occur amid escalating violence. Last Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky reported the largest aerial assault by Russia on Ukraine since the war began, and the UN confirmed June saw the highest number of civilian casualties in three years. Meanwhile, intense combat continues along the eastern front, with Russia reclaiming parts of the Kursk region previously taken by Ukraine in 2023.
Diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire have stalled, with no significant breakthroughs. The cycle of retaliation and intensifying hostilities signals the ongoing complexity and depth of the war, now entering its fourth year.
