Ukraine's Zelenskiy says investigation underway after clash between two security agencies

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that ​an investigation would determine what ​caused a dispute between two ‌of Ukraine's ​security agencies to escalate into a shootout in Kyiv this week that left three members of the Defence ‌Ministry's HUR Military Intelligence Directorate injured. The dispute centres on the disappearance for nine days of a Russian nationalist activist fighting alongside Ukrainian troops in the 4-1/2-year-old war pitting ‌Moscow against Kyiv.

The nationalist said he was detained by the SBU Security Service ‌and obliged to sign a confession that he collaborated with Russian intelligence. He later retracted the statement. The street clash occurred in central Kyiv on Tuesday after the activist's Kyiv home was ⁠searched. ​SBU officers fired ⁠on members of the HUR unit. The SBU has said it was acting to prevent a Moscow-inspired ⁠plot to assassinate Russian anti-Kremlin activists in Kyiv.

"It is important that the truth come ​out. And that situations like this do not recur," Zelenskiy said in ⁠his nightly video address. "An assessment of the heads of these two agencies – the SBU and the HUR – ⁠will ​be made based on the results of an internal investigation. It is completely fair that both sides be brought to account. Both acted precisely in ⁠a way that should not have happened," he said.

Two servicemen from the two ⁠bodies have been ⁠issued notices of suspicion in connection with the incident. Zelenskiy has dismissed the head of the SBU’s department for the protection ‌of state ‌secrets, Oleh Khramov.