Colonel of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Ivan Voronych, who was shot dead on July 10 on the instructions of Russian special services, in 2015 planned the elimination of the field commander of the pro-Russian militants of the "Pryzrak" battalion of the so-called "LPR" Alexei Mozgovoi.
This is reported by The Times, citing sources in Ukrainian intelligence.
According to the publication, Voronych also participated in operations against the Russian Black Sea Fleet, where naval drones were used during attacks on ships. The Times writes that the murdered SBU colonel was a deputy in the unit of former intelligence officer Roman Chervinsky.
The Times also learned details of the murder of a Ukrainian colonel. According to intelligence, the FSB hired two hitmen from Azerbaijan in the spring through a criminal syndicate. The woman entered Ukraine from Moldova in May, and her partner was initially denied entry due to a criminal record. Now SBU is investigating how he managed to get into the country.
Previously, the New York Times wrote that Voronych was an officer of the “Alpha” Special Operations Center, worked in the department for several decades, participated in the elimination of Russian militant Arsen Pavlov under the pseudonym "Motorola" and in the operation in Kursk.
What preceded
Ivan Voronych was shot in Kyiv on the afternoon of July 10. His body with a gunshot wound was found in the Holosiivsky district of the city. According to sources from the New York Times, SBU eliminated the killers on July 13. The operation was personally led by the head of SBU Vasyl Malyuk. The man and woman resisted, so they were eliminated.
The neo-Nazi organization “The Base” claimed responsibility for Voronychʼs murder. Its founder, American Rinaldo Nazzaro, was a Pentagon contractor who worked with the US Special Forces during the war on terror. He now lives in St. Petersburg.
The organization offered money to supporters or volunteer participants for targeted killings and attacks on critical Ukrainian infrastructure. The organization says the killing of Voronych is “just the beginning”.
- In 2018, “The Base” came under investigation by the FBI. Dozens of its members were subsequently arrested, and several countries designated the group a terrorist organization. Until recently, The Base had never publicly supported Putin’s geopolitical goals. In April, the organization launched what it described as an insurgent movement to create a white ethnostate in Transcarpathia. Its Telegram accounts have now uploaded videos of what appear to be police and military vehicles, electrical panels, and other targets being set on fire, as well as dozens of other geo-tagged videos in Ukraine.
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