Ukrainian special forces units clashed with each other in a bitter downtown Kyiv shootout
Servicemen of the Security Service of Ukraine stand next to a "SeaBaby" seadrone.
GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images Two units run by Ukraine's spy agencies fought each other in a shootout in central Kyiv on Tuesday.
The dramatic confrontation between GUR and the SBU centered on a disputed apartment search.
Video appears to show two groups of soldiers approaching each other aggressively before shots ring out.
A gunfight broke out in Kyiv on Tuesday between special forces units run by Ukraine's intelligence and security agencies, with at least three officers reported wounded.
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy , called the confrontation — involving the country's military intelligence directorate, GUR , and the Security Service of Ukraine , or SBU — an "absolutely shameful situation." "Here, in Ukraine, it is only possible to shoot at Russian occupiers to protect Ukraine.
No other shootout will ever be perceived by our state as something that is permitted for anyone," he said.
The violent clash in central Kyiv is one of the most dramatic and high-profile confrontations between friendly Ukrainian forces.
The SBU said in a statement on Wednesday that the gunfight occurred while it was investigating a possible operation by the Kremlin against a Russian dissident.
SBU agents had been collecting and recording evidence as part of "urgent investigative actions," it said.
"During a search at one of the addresses, a group of individuals carried out an armed attack on the SBU operational-investigative group," the statement said.
According to the SBU, these individuals blocked its officers and their cars from proceeding, after which the security service called in its "Alpha" special forces unit to intervene.
"During the cessation of armed resistance, law enforcement officers used weapons," the SBU wrote, adding in the statement that the people blocking its investigation were from a Ukrainian unit.
Several members of the opposing group were wounded in the process, it added.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.businessinsider.com — the content belongs to Business Insider.
