A senior officer with Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency was shot and killed in a daylight attack in Kyiv, in what appears to be a targeted assassination amid the ongoing war with Russia.

The officer, believed to be Colonel Ivan Voronych of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), was fatally shot multiple times in a parking lot in the capital’s southern Holosiivskyi district.

The attacker, who remains unidentified, fled the scene immediately after the shooting. The SBU has not publicly named the victim, but Ukrainian media reports have identified him.

Surveillance footage verified by Reuters shows a man dressed in a dark T-shirt and jeans leaving a building shortly after 9 am local time on Thursday.

As he approaches a nearby car carrying a plastic bag and a holdall, another man is seen running towards him and opening fire.

According to Ukrainska Pravda, citing anonymous sources, the assailant used a pistol and shot the officer five times. Kyiv police confirmed that officers arrived at the scene to find a man’s body with a gunshot wound and are now working to track down the shooter.

“Measures are being taken to detain him,” the police said in a statement.

The SBU, in its own statement, said it is conducting “a comprehensive set of measures to clarify all the circumstances of the crime and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

The intelligence agency plays a key role in Ukraine’s internal security and counter-intelligence operations, similar to the United Kingdom’s MI5.

Since the Russian invasion in 2022, it has expanded its activities to include operations far beyond Ukraine’s borders, including high-profile strikes inside Russia.

Ukraine’s security sources have previously told media, including the BBC, that they were responsible for the killing of Russian General Igor Kirillov in December 2024.

Earlier this year, General Yaroslav Moskalik was killed in a car bomb blast in Moscow, which the Kremlin blamed on Ukraine. However, Kyiv has not officially claimed responsibility for either incident.

No motive has yet been offered by the SBU or police for Thursday’s shooting.

The apparent assassination comes just two days after what Ukrainian officials described as Russia’s largest aerial assault since the start of the war, with 728 drones and 13 missiles striking various cities.

On the night leading into Thursday, Russian forces again targeted Kyiv, killing at least two people and wounding 16 others in attacks that struck eight districts across the city.

Officials said Russia used 18 missiles and 400 drones in that overnight assault.

Fighting remains intense along the front lines, with Russian troops slowly advancing in western Ukraine.

Moscow has also reclaimed control of parts of the Kursk region that Ukrainian forces had captured in a surprise offensive last summer.

Russia now occupies about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

Peace talks have shown little progress, and efforts to negotiate a ceasefire remain stalled. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the prolonged conflict.