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Top Ukrainian spy shot dead with silenced pistol in Kyiv

Ukrainian official blames Russia for daylight murder of senior security officerKieran Kelly

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10 July 2025 11:54am BST

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Col Ivan Voronich was crossing the street near a block of flats when he was approached by a man with a gun

A senior Ukrainian spy has been shot dead by an assassin using a silenced pistol on the streets of Kyiv.

Col Ivan Voronich, a senior operational officer in Ukraine’s security service, was crossing the street near a block of flats in the capital’s Holosiivskyi district when he was approached by a man with a gun on Thursday morning.

Footage shared on Telegram showed the moment Col Voronich was shot five times next to a row of parked cars.

Following the attack, a man can be seen running along the street in the opposite direction while stuffing a gun into his shorts.

Roman Chervinsky, a former Ukrainian intelligence officer, said Col Voronich was killed as he left his apartment at 8am local time on Thursday.

“With five shots at close range while leaving the apartment today at 8am, the enemy killer did his dirty work,” Mr Chervinsky said.

He added that Col Voronich had been “fighting the enemy since 2014”.

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The senior security service officer died at the scene, according to Ihar Mosiychuk, a former Ukrainian MP, who blamed Russian special services for the attack.

Col Voronich was reportedly the head of the 1st division of the 16th department in Ukraine’s security service, which focuses on high-level operations including counter-terrorism, special operations and security missions.

However, both sides of the Ukraine-Russia conflict have carried out assassinations since the full-scale war began in February 2022.

A high-ranking Russian general and his assistant were killed in Moscow by Ukraine’s security service last December. Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, the head of Moscow’s radiation, biological and chemical defence forces, was outside a residential block when a device hidden in a scooter was detonated remotely.

Another senior Russian general was killed in a car bomb attack in Moscow earlier this year. Gen Yaroslav Moskalik died when a Volkswagen Golf exploded after an improvised device stuffed with pellets went off in April.

Russia’s federal security service claimed to have killed a Ukrainian spy allegedly plotting to assassinate a defence industry executive in September 2024.

Moscow has stepped up attacks on civilians in recent months, regularly targeting major cities such as Kyiv and Dnipro.

Russian forces fired a total of 741 missiles and drones on Tuesday night, breaking the record for the number of projectiles launched that had been set the Friday before.

On Wednesday night, Russia fired 400 drones and 18 missiles in an almost 10-hour attack, killing two people in Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president added that the attack showed the need for further sanctions against the Kremlin.

“This demands that we speed things up. Sanctions must be imposed faster, and pressure on Russia must be strong enough that they truly feel the consequences of their terror,” he said.

Mr Zelensky also urged Ukraine’s allies to boost investment in Ukrainian weapons production during a visit to Rome on Thursday.

“This is what we must focus on first – we must stop Russian drones and missiles. This means more air defence supplies and investments in interceptor drones, air defence systems, and missiles,” he said.

“I urge all our partners – increase your investments. When Russia increases its attacks, we cannot have a shortage of funding.”

Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, said commitments worth a total of about 10 billion euros (£8.6 billion) would be made, without giving further details.

Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, said his country was ready to accept crucial Patriot missile interceptors from the US, before sending them to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said he had a “frank” conversation with Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, in Kuala Lumpur.

“It was a frank conversation. It was an important one,” Mr Rubio told reporters. “I echoed what the president said, both disappointment and frustration at the lack of progress.”