Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the shootout between the SBU and GRU units in Kiev, in which one person was killed and two were injured, as absolutely shameful, RBC Ukraine reports. The head of state also discussed the incident with the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, and also dismissed the head of the SBU's Department for the Protection of State Secrets, Oleg Khramov, reported "Focus".
In his evening video address, Zelensky emphasized that the shootout would be investigated by investigators and representatives of the special services themselves involved in it. According to the website Strana.ua. The incident was based on a personal feud between the head of the presidential office, Kirill Budanov, and the acting head of the SBU, Alexander Poklad.
"The Prosecutor General and the State Investigation Bureau will clarify all the details: all the testimonies and statements of the participants in this story will be checked, the whole situation step by step", Zelensky said. "Shooting here, in Ukraine, is allowed only at Russian occupiers in order to defend Ukraine. No other shootout will ever be perceived by our state as something that is allowed to anyone", Zelensky concluded.
The shootout occurred in the early hours of September 2 in the Bereznyaki district of Kiev. Officers of the SBU's "Alpha" Special Operations Center detained Stepan Kaplunov, the deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps. Then GRU officers arrived at the scene and tried to arrest the people from “Alpha“. After clarifying the situation and who was who, the SBU officers demanded to arrest the GRU people as well, and then the shootout broke out, writes Strana.ua.
By order of Zelensky, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine has initiated pre-trial proceedings for “threat and attempted murder of law enforcement officers“.