Shooting on Bereznyaky: SBU reports armed attack during search, injuries reported

On the night of September 2, 2026, in the Bereznyaky district of Kyiv, near Yurii Shumskyi Street, an incident involving the use of firearms occurred. According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the agency's operatives were carrying out urgent investigative actions at one of the capital's addresses as part of an investigation into a terrorist act that, according to the SBU, was organized by the Russian FSB. During the search, a group of individuals launched an armed attack on the operational-investigative team and blocked the passage of law enforcement officers with their vehicles. To suppress the resistance, fighters from the SBU's Special Operations Center "Alpha" were called to the scene, and they used their weapons. Among those who resisted there are the injured, and all the attackers have been detained.

Circumstances of the incident and the SBU's version

According to the SBU's official statement, the detained individuals are preliminarily affiliated with one of the units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Law enforcement officers emphasized that the use of weapons was necessitated by the need to stop the armed attack and ensure the safety of the participants in the procedural actions. The police temporarily closed traffic in the area of Yurii Shumskyi Street. On the morning of September 2, videos showing the aftermath of the shooting spread on social media, confirming the scale of the incident. The Office of the Prosecutor General also confirmed the fact of the investigative actions and the presence of casualties.

Connection to the kidnapping of the RDK deputy commander

The incident on Bereznyaky occurred against the backdrop of a high-profile kidnapping that became known on September 1: Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), was taken from his own home. The RDK headquarters stated that it had no information about his whereabouts and submitted requests to the HUR, the SBU, and the NABU. On the morning of September 2, the SBU, together with the HUR, reported a thwarted FSB terrorist act against one of the leaders of the Russian opposition movement who had arrived in Ukraine for Independence Day. According to RBC-Ukraine sources, this refers to Kaplunov, although the security service did not officially name him.

Contradictory data

A discrepancy has emerged in the public sphere regarding the characterization of the participants in the incident. In the SBU's official statement, the attackers are described as individuals "preliminarily affiliated with one of the units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces." However, a number of Ukrainian and Russian media outlets (including topnews.ru, korrespondent.net, and news.ru) presented the event as a shootout between SBU and HUR officers, and korrespondent.net's headline mentioned the presence of the dead and the injured. Thus, the version that Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen acted against the SBU and the version of a conflict within the law enforcement agencies (SBU versus HUR) coexist in the information space. As of the time of publication of the article, no official clarification had been issued on which specific unit the detained individuals belonged to. In addition, Kaplunov's status — whether he has been detained, injured, or is in some other condition — has not been officially disclosed.

Reaction and current situation

As of the morning of September 2, traffic in the area of Yurii Shumskyi Street remains closed. The police and the SBU are continuing their work at the scene of the incident. Official comments regarding further procedural actions against the detained individuals, as well as on the condition of the injured, had not been published as of the time of preparation of this material. The RDK headquarters, in turn, again demanded that the Ukrainian security services provide information on Kaplunov's fate. Experts note that the incident, linked to an internal conflict between law enforcement structures against the backdrop of a terrorist act investigation, may have significant political consequences for trust in Ukraine's law enforcement block.