Members of Ukraine's two main intelligence services — the military intelligence agency (HUR) and the domestic Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) — engaged in a shootout in Kyiv early Wednesday, exposing a deepening power struggle within the country's defense forces. The confrontation occurred outside the apartment of Stepan Kaplunov, a Russian national and senior HUR commander who serves as deputy head of the Russian Volunteer Corps. Kaplunov had been missing since August 23 before SBU officers brought him to his apartment for investigative actions.

The SBU later accused Kaplunov of plotting an assassination for Russian intelligence and claimed he confessed, but Kaplunov and his lawyer, Taras Borovsky, said the confession was coerced during a 10-day illegal detention. Three HUR officers were wounded, one critically. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the clash as an "absolutely shameful event" and ordered a prosecutor general investigation.

His chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, former HUR head, echoed the criticism. Videos and interviews have flooded social media as HUR pushes back against SBU's narrative. The incident highlights dangerous institutional rivalries at a critical moment in Ukraine's war effort.