Summary:
An armed confrontation between Ukraine's two principal intelligence services erupted in Kyiv overnight and on the morning of 2 September 2026. It marked a rare and publicly visible rupture within the country's security apparatus.
Personnel of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence (GUR, also styled HUR) and officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confronted one another at 10 Yuriya Shums'koho Street, in the Berezniaky neighbourhood of the Dniprovskyi district. The standoff escalated into a firefight after the SBU deployed its elite Alpha unit. At least three GUR members were wounded, and Ukrainian authorities confirmed no fatalities.
The confrontation followed the detention of Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander for combat operations of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a formation of anti-Kremlin Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine under GUR command. The corps said Kaplunov had been abducted from the courtyard of his home days earlier.
The two services offered opposing accounts. The SBU maintained that its personnel had jointly foiled a terrorist plot prepared by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and had come under armed attack during a lawful search. The GUR, the RDK and Kaplunov's lawyer characterised the operation as an unlawful abduction and the FSB narrative as a cover story. Kaplunov was released the same day.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the incident as "absolutely shameful." He directed the Prosecutor General and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) to reconstruct events, required internal inquiries within both services, and dismissed a senior SBU official the same evening. The intelligence said to underlie the FSB allegation has not been published, and, as of 3 September, no charges against named officers had been confirmed.
Detailed Report
1. Detention of Russian Volunteer Corps Commander Stepan Kaplunov
On 23 August 2026, according to Taras Borovskyi, Kaplunov's legal representative, officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) seized Stepan Kaplunov in the courtyard of his Kyiv residence. Borovskyi said they drove him away without a detention report, a lawyer, or an interpreter.
Kaplunov serves as deputy commander for combat operations of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a unit formed in August 2022 from Russian citizens and émigrés who oppose the government of President Vladimir Putin and fight on the side of Ukraine. It is subordinated to the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence (GUR), Ukraine's military intelligence directorate. The Russian Federation designates the RDK as a terrorist organisation.
The RDK said it learned of Kaplunov's disappearance only days later. On 1 September its chief of staff, Aleksandr Fortuna, declared that unknown persons had abducted him from the courtyard of his building.
As soon as we learned about his abduction, we immediately raised the alarm and contacted Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Bureau of Investigation… We have still not received any clear information about either Stepan's whereabouts or the charges brought against him.
Suspicion for the detention fell upon the SBU, the country's domestic security and counter-intelligence agency, which operates independently of the GUR. Borovskyi told Ukrainian media that staff at the SBU detention centre had said Kaplunov was not held there. A communications adviser at the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) confirmed that investigators had received the lawyers' statement and were determining whether to open a formal pre-trial investigation.
2. Armed Standoff Between SBU and GUR in Berezniaky
On the night of 1–2 September 2026, according to Kaplunov's lawyer and to Ukrainian outlets citing sources at the scene, SBU officers brought Kaplunov to an apartment at 10 Yuriya Shums'koho Street to conduct an urgent search in his presence.
GUR personnel — including elements associated with the directorate's Tymur special unit — arrived at the building over the detention of RDK members under GUR command. An armed confrontation developed in the courtyard and around blocked vehicles.
The SBU then deployed its Centre for Special Operations "A," known as Alpha, an elite intervention unit. It was after Alpha's arrival that the standoff escalated into a firefight. Gunfire was heard overnight and again on the morning of 2 September, and local Telegram channels reported two separate bursts of shooting.
The standoff persisted past 10:00, and police closed Shums'koho Street. Residents described wounded men and traces of blood. Video later published by Censor.NET captured a late phase of the confrontation; sources on each side told the outlet that the other had fired first.
3. Three GUR Officers Wounded as Investigators Intervene
At least three GUR officers were wounded, according to sources cited by Ukrainska Pravda. Borovskyi, who was present, said one had an artery severed by a gunshot to the leg and was bleeding heavily, a second was in serious condition in hospital, and a third had a lesser wound. The SBU, by contrast, did not give casualty figures. Reports of a fatality circulated on Telegram but were not confirmed by the SBU, the Prosecutor General or the SBI.
Investigators from the SBI, the independent body responsible for offences by senior officials and law-enforcement personnel, arrived to de-escalate the situation. Personnel from both services agreed to unload their weapons, and the commander of SBU Alpha attended the site. Accounts compiled by the OSINT account AMK Mapping reported that preliminary findings identified the detainees as RDK members.
4. The SBU's Account: An Alleged FSB Terror Plot
On the morning of 2 September the SBU said that, acting jointly with the GUR, it had prevented a terrorist attack prepared by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) against a leader of a Russian opposition movement who had arrived in Ukraine around Independence Day. It did not name the individual, though Ukrainian media, citing law-enforcement sources, identified him as Kaplunov.
In a later statement, the service said its officers had been conducting urgent investigative actions within a pre-trial investigation into the alleged FSB plot when an armed group attacked the team and blocked their vehicles. Alpha was deployed in response.
In the process of putting an end to the armed resistance, the law enforcement officers used weapons. Some of those who resisted were injured in the incident.
The SBU said the attackers had been detained and identified as members of a Ukrainian defence-forces unit, and that their weapons and documents had been seized.
5. The GUR and RDK Account: An Unlawful Abduction
The GUR, the RDK, and Kaplunov's lawyer rejected the SBU's version. A commander of the GUR Tymur unit told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the US-funded international broadcaster, that SBU agents had been "detaining HUR personnel and opening fire without warning."
Borovskyi maintained that commanders of the relevant SBU and GUR units had agreed to settle the search and transfer Kaplunov to military intelligence, only for other SBU officers to begin detaining GUR personnel, after which firing broke out. The RDK commander, Denis Kapustin, told RFE/RL that the SBU had found nothing compromising in the apartment.
The competing accounts remain unreconciled. The intelligence said to underlie the FSB allegation has not been made public, and the SBU has not explained why an urgent search was conducted only on 1–2 September if Kaplunov had been in custody since 23 August.
6. Release of Kaplunov and Disputed Whereabouts
Kaplunov was released on 2 September 2026. His lawyer said that, although he was free, his precise whereabouts remained unknown. Borovskyi further asserted, in comments reported by RBC Ukraine, that the SBU's account was intended to recast an unlawful detention as a counter-terrorism operation. The SBU did not publicly withdraw its account.
7. Political Fallout: Zelenskyy Orders Investigations and a Dismissal
In an evening video address on 2 September, delivered after consultations with Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, President Zelenskyy condemned the confrontation in the strongest terms.
Regarding today's absolutely shameful situation between separate SSU and DIU units that took place in Kyiv… There must be accountability, including personnel changes by the heads of the security services… as well as internal investigations within both agencies.
Here in Ukraine, shooting is only permissible at Russian occupiers in defence of Ukraine.
The President's advisers said he had already reproached the agency heads, including acting SBU chief Oleksandr Poklad and GUR chief Oleh Ivashchenko, and had demanded that the services inform the public. The same day, Zelenskyy signed a decree dismissing Oleh Khramov, head of the SBU Department for the Protection of State Secrets and Licensing, in post since March 2023; the decree gave no reason.
Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President and former GUR chief, underscored the demand for accountability while affirming its limits.
No one has the right to abduct servicemen with impunity, open fire in the streets of our cities, or issue or carry out criminal orders.
The Office of the Prosecutor General opened a pre-trial investigation into threats and an attempt on the life of a law-enforcement officer, and the SBI took the lead in reconstructing events.
8. The Long-Standing SBU–GUR Institutional Rivalry
The clash drew on a long-standing rivalry. The SBU, established in 1991 as the successor to the republican KGB, handles counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism and the protection of state secrets, and numbers more than 30,000 personnel. The GUR is the military intelligence directorate of the Ministry of Defence.
The two agencies have competed for influence, resources and operational credit since well before 2022, and both expanded in power and budget after the full-scale invasion. Reporting by Christopher Miller of the Financial Times and others has documented a feud that persisted in wartime, and sources cited after the shootout pointed to a personal conflict between Budanov and Poklad.
Conclusion
The armed clash between GUR and SBU personnel in Kyiv on 1–2 September 2026 marked a serious and publicly visible breakdown in institutional discipline within Ukraine's security community. President Zelenskyy condemned the episode as disgraceful and placed the Prosecutor General and the SBI in charge of reconstructing events, while requiring internal inquiries and personnel decisions of both services. The central dispute — whether this was an unlawful abduction or a legitimate counter-terrorism operation disrupted by armed resistance — remains unresolved, and the investigation is open.