Militant involved in murders of intelligence officers killed in Donetsk – UP sources

In July 2026, Ukrainian intelligence services killed Oleh Shutov, an officer of the so-called Ministry of State Security of Donetsk People's Republic, a self-proclaimed Russia-backed quasi-state formation in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast. Shutov was involved in the high-profile murders of Maksym Shapoval, an officer from Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), and Oleksandr Kharaberiush, an officer from the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU).

Source: LB.ua and Ukrainska Pravda citing sources within Ukraine's intelligence services on conditions of anonymity

Details: The sources reported that explosives had been planted in Shutov's Subaru car, which he used to drive to the Dynamo sports complex in the Leninskyi district in the temporarily occupied city of Donetsk on the evening of 27 July.

It has reportedly only become possible to disclose Shutov's death now that the agent-combat group involved has safely returned to Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Background:

• On 31 March 2017, Oleksandr Kharaberiush, deputy head of the main counterintelligence department of the Donetsk Oblast Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine, was killed in Mariupol when the car he was travelling in exploded.
• On 27 June 2017, Maksym Shapoval, an officer of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, was killed when his Mercedes exploded in Kyiv.
• In April 2019, Vasyl Hrytsak, who was then head of the Security Service of Ukraine, said that saboteur Oleh Shutov had planted explosives under the car of Ukrainian intelligence officer Maksym Shapoval. "Shutov is an employee of the so-called 'MGB DPR [Ministry of State Security of the Donetsk People's Republic] Special Operations Centre', operating under the supervision of officers of the Russian FSB and military intelligence of the Russian special services," Hrytsak said.
• The Security Service of Ukraine chief recalled that the head of this centre was Vasily Yevdokimov, known by the nickname Lenin. It was he who, acting on orders from the Russian special services, organised the assasination of Ukrainian counterintelligence officer Oleksandr Kharaberiush on 31 March 2017.

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