Kyiv, A confrontation between Ukraine's domestic security service, the SBU, and the military intelligence agency, HUR, erupted on a residential street in the city's Berezniaky district on Wednesday, leaving three HUR officers injured, two of them in serious condition.

The incident began when SBU operatives returned to an apartment they intended to search, carrying the detained deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps, Stepan Kaplunov. HUR personnel, who had been guarding the flat, confronted the SBU team, leading to a heated verbal exchange that escalated into gunfire.

How the clash unfolded

According to video footage released by Ukrainian media outlets, the first shots were warning shots fired by SBU officers. The agency's elite Alfa unit later arrived on the scene, and the footage shows a series of live rounds being discharged at HUR officers standing in the doorway.

Kaplunov's lawyer, Taras Borovskyi, told Ukrainska Pravda that one HUR officer suffered a leg wound that severed an artery, causing him to bleed out before being rushed to hospital. A second officer was also listed as being in a critical state, while a third sustained less severe injuries.

The SBU maintains that its officers used force to stop what it described as "armed resistance" from HUR personnel. It has not confirmed whether any HUR members returned fire.

Background to the dispute

The flashpoint can be traced to an arrest made on 23 August. SBU agents detained Kaplunov outside an apartment that HUR uses as a base for its volunteers. Kaplunov, a Russian-born former soldier who fought in Syria, has been fighting for Ukraine since the 2014 annexation of Crimea. He is a senior figure in the Russian Volunteer Corps, a unit composed of Russian nationals who oppose the Kremlin and have taken part in cross‑border raids into Russian territory.

HUR officials allege that the SBU's detention amounted to a kidnapping in broad daylight. A video posted by the NV website shows Kaplunov being lifted from the ground and placed into a vehicle, pleading not to be hit on the head because of an old wound.

After the arrest, the SBU issued a statement claiming it was probing a suspected terrorist plot against a Russian opposition leader ahead of Ukraine's Independence Day celebrations on 24 August. The agency later alleged that Kaplunov had cooperated with Russia's FSB and was planning an assassination, a charge that has not been independently verified.

Political fallout

President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the episode as "absolutely shameful", reiterating that the use of firearms is legally limited to defending the country against Russian occupiers. In a televised address, he said: "Here in Ukraine, it is permitted to shoot only at Russian occupiers in defence of Ukraine."

Following the president's remarks, Zelensky dismissed Oleh Khramov, the head of the SBU department for protection and state secrets, signalling a rare move to hold senior security officials accountable for intra‑government violence.

Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the presidential office and former director of HUR, called for an independent investigation, stating: "No one has the right to kidnap members of the armed forces with impunity, shoot on the streets of our cities, or issue and carry out criminal orders."

Russian propaganda response

The incident quickly became fodder for Russian war bloggers and state‑aligned media. Telegram channels such as Military Informant described the episode as a "small war" breaking out in the Ukrainian capital, while the Two Majors channel mocked the two services for "settling scores with assault rifles outside other people's windows".

Veteran Russian propagandist Alexander Kots posted on his Telegram feed that the clash was "very interesting" and urged his followers to watch further developments, framing the internal Ukrainian dispute as evidence of chaos within the Ukrainian state.

Historical context of inter‑agency rivalry

Disagreements between the SBU and HUR are not new. In the early months of the Russian invasion, the two bodies competed for influence, resources and operational control. Both agencies have expanded dramatically: the SBU now employs roughly 30,000 operatives, approaching the size of the United States FBI, while HUR has also grown, though not to the same scale.

One of the most cited past incidents involved the death of Denys Kireiev, a former HUR officer who had allegedly infiltrated Russian intelligence before the invasion. Budanov has accused the SBU of murdering Kireiev in March 2022, a claim the SBU denied, attributing his death to a misidentification as a Russian agent. The presidential office later suggested that poor coordination between the services contributed to the tragedy.

These internal frictions have raised concerns among Western partners about the effectiveness of Ukraine's intelligence apparatus, especially as the country relies heavily on accurate information to coordinate defence and humanitarian assistance.

Broader war developments

While the Kyiv street clash dominated domestic headlines, the war on the front lines continued to evolve. Russian state media channel Slivochny Kapriz released figures claiming Russian forces gained a net 220 square kilometres of territory in August, a modest increase over July's 176 square kilometres. Independent analysts at the US‑based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported a smaller net gain of 90 square kilometres, or 123 square kilometres when including areas of infiltration.

The discrepancy between Russian and pro‑Ukrainian sources mirrors a growing information gap that has widened since the start of the conflict. A Ukrainian analyst known as Vitalii highlighted that the Russian side now claims roughly 5,000 square kilometres more territory than the Ukrainian DeepState UA mapping project, a gap that was under 2,000 square kilometres in January.

Escalation of attacks on civilian infrastructure

Data released by the Tochnyi website and analysed by French OSINT specialist Clément Molin showed a sharp rise in Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian warehouses in August, with 140 attacks recorded, a dramatic jump from the 10‑20 attacks per month typical earlier in the year.

Molin linked the surge to Ukraine's logistics‑targeting campaign against Russian‑occupied southern regions, noting that as Russia struggled to hit Ukrainian supply convoys directly, it turned to warehouses and fuel stations behind them. He dismissed claims that the attacks were unrelated to Ukrainian operations, arguing that the pattern of increased frequency could not be coincidental.

Ukrainian accounts responded by acknowledging Russia's capacity to intensify the conflict at will, underscoring the need for a credible deterrent to achieve any lasting ceasefire.

Human cost of the wider conflict

According to the open‑source Oryx project, which catalogues equipment losses based on photographic evidence, Russian forces lost 24,052 pieces of heavy equipment in August, including 4,443 tanks, of which 3,348 were destroyed in combat. Ukrainian forces reported the loss of 12,052 pieces of equipment, including 1,460 tanks, with 1,121 destroyed.

These figures illustrate the grinding attrition both sides endure, even as the front lines shift only marginally. For ordinary Ukrainians, the continued bombardment of civilian infrastructure, exemplified by the burning of the mining town of Dobropillia, translates into displacement, loss of livelihoods and heightened insecurity.

Implications for European partners

For EU member states, the incident raises several practical concerns. First, the reliability of Ukrainian intelligence sharing is essential for coordinating sanctions, military aid and cyber‑defence measures. A visible rift between the SBU and HUR could complicate the flow of actionable intelligence to European capitals.

Second, the episode underscores the importance of robust oversight mechanisms for security services receiving Western funding. The EU's European Peace Facility and other assistance programmes often require partner nations to demonstrate accountability and respect for the rule of law.

Finally, the clash highlights the human dimension of the war: Ukrainian citizens continue to bear the brunt of both external aggression and internal discord. European solidarity, whether through humanitarian aid, reconstruction funds or support for judicial reforms, remains crucial to stabilising a country that is still navigating the pressures of a protracted conflict.

What comes next

The SBU has announced an internal investigation into the use of firearms, while the president's office has promised a "thorough and independent" review of the entire episode. Budanov has called for a broader inquiry into the systemic issues that allow such confrontations to arise.

In the meantime, both agencies have been instructed to avoid further public confrontations, and a temporary joint command structure is being discussed to improve coordination on operations involving high‑profile detainees.

As the war drags on, the incident serves as a stark reminder that even as Ukraine fights an external invader, internal cohesion among its security institutions is essential for maintaining public trust and ensuring the effectiveness of the broader defence effort.