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By Shane Croucher
Senior Editor
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Colonel Ivan Voronych of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was shot dead as he left his home in Kyiv on Thursday morning. Ukraine's National Police and the SBU are investigating the killing.
A masked gunman approached the senior intelligence officer from a residential parking lot and shot him several times with a silenced handgun before fleeing the scene.
Authorities have not yet confirmed a motive for the killing, but it comes as Russia and Ukraine target their respective military and intelligence officials and other high-profile people for assassination while the war continues.
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The SBU specializes in counterintelligence and special operations, with recent examples including the bombing of the Kerch Bridge connecting Russia to Crimea and the attack on Russian strategic bombers deep inside Moscow's territory.
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RBC-Ukraine reported that an SBU officer was the victim of the shooting in the city's Holosiivskyi district, and later named him as Voronych, citing unnamed sources. The SBU subsequently confirmed his identity to the media.
Newsweek has contacted the SBU and Ukrainian National Police for comment.
The SBU told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspline that it and the police "are taking comprehensive measures to clarify all the circumstances of the crime and bring the perpetrators to justice."
A suspect has not yet been publicly identified.
Roman Chervinsky Pays Tribute
Roman Chervinsky, a former top SBU colonel involved in special operations currently embroiled in legal troubles, paid tribute to Voronych in a post on Facebook.
Chervinsky, writing in Ukrainian, called it "a personal loss for me and for many patriotic employees" of the SBU and said Voronych "was killed by an enemy saboteur."
"He was a man who had been fighting the enemy since 2014 and was one of those who pioneered a direction within the Service that is now causing many problems for the orcs," Chervinsky wrote.
Voronych was also named as the victim by Ihor Mosiychuk, a far-right Ukrainian politician, in a Telegram post. He shared surveillance footage of the shooting.
Russia-Ukraine War Latest News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of launching 18 missiles and about 400 attack drones in a "massive" deadly attack overnight into Thursday, mostly targeting the capital, Kyiv, and the surrounding region. It lasted about 10 hours.
"This is a clear escalation of terror by Russia—hundreds of 'Shaheds' every night, constant strikes, and massive attacks on Ukrainian cities," Zelensky posted to X, formerly Twitter, referring to the Iranian-made Shahed drones used by Russian forces.
Zelensky said the Russian attack overnight also targeted the Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, Kirovohrad and Kharkiv regions. Ukraine's State Emergency Service said two people were killed and 22 injured.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said it intercepted 17 Ukrainian drones overnight and in the early morning, as of 7:30 a.m. local time, over the Black Sea, Belgorod, Kursk, Crimea and Penza.
Moscow's intensification of strikes against Ukraine are fueling a change in U.S. President Donald Trump's perspective on Russia as he struggles to broker a peace deal. Trump has soured on Russian President Vladimir Putin and is now openly criticizing him.
Trump has resisted pressure from Ukraine and its European allies to increase the pressure on Russia but now says he will send more defensive weapons to Kyiv in light of the strikes, signaling a hardening of his stance against Moscow.
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