NYT: SBU Colonel Killed In Kiev Played Key Role In Kursk Region Offensive

• 11.07.2025, 18:25

Ivan Voronich was an officer of the Alpha Special Operations Center.

Colonel Ivan Voronich of Ukraine's Security Service, who was shot dead in Kiev on July 10, was the head of a unit that played a key role in an offensive in Russia's Kursk region in the summer of 2024.

According to New York Times.

According to Ukrainian officials and Voronich's former colleagues, the slain SBU colonel was an officer with the Alpha Special Operations Center and had worked for the agency for decades.

Voronich began serving in the SBU in the mid-1990s. For a time, he commanded a special operations unit known as the "Fifth Directorate."

This unit received technical support from the U.S. CIA and was responsible for the assassination of one of the commanders of the militants of the unrecognized "Donetsk People's Republic" Arseniy Pavlov, known by his nickname "Motorola".

Colleagues say that after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Voronich was part of an elite unit responsible for operating in the "gray zone" between the front lines. That unit played a key role in Ukraine's offensive on the Kursk region in August 2024.

The former head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, who was personally acquainted with the slain colonel, said the latter had been very active in countering Russian aggression since 2014.

"If the motive is domestic murder, that's one thing. But it could be a public execution carried out by the Russians, and this is a completely different story, which will require a set of immediate measures from the SBU," he noted.