KYIV, Ukraine — The daylight, sidewalk assassination of a former speaker of Ukraine’s parliament on Aug. 30 sent shock waves through a nation hardened by three years of war. The shooting on a shady street in the quiet western city of Lviv reminded the country that even far from the front, no one is truly safe.
In the weeks since, a shadow war of targeted killings between Russia and Ukraine has intensified and spread.
Ukraine’s military intelligence took credit Monday for a car bomb that killed a Russian national guard lieutenant colonel deep inside Russia’s Stavropol Krai, near the village of Tambukan. On Wednesday, Volodymyr Leontiev, a Russian-installed official in occupied Nova Kakhovka long accused by Kyiv of collaboration and abuse, was reportedly killed by a Ukrainian drone.
Although targeted killings have long been part of Moscow’s tradecraft, the tempo and reach of such attacks have accelerated since the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Today, Kyiv and Moscow use covert operations but with very different aims.
“We go after Russian generals, collaborators and war criminals — people who are legitimate military targets,” said Serhii Sternenko, a Ukrainian political figure and outspoken critic of Russia who has survived multiple attempts on his life widely attributed to Russian security services.
Once a leader of the Odesa branch of the nationalist Right Sector movement and now a civic activist and blogger, Mr. Sternenko is known for his outspoken criticism of corruption and Russian influence. Today, he continues to play a high-profile role in shaping public opinion by speaking out against Moscow’s tactics and rallying support for Ukraine’s resistance.
“Russia, on the other hand, goes after civilians,” he told The Washington Times. “That’s not just a war crime. If done systematically, it amounts to a crime against humanity.”
To Mr. Sternenko, the Kremlin’s strategy is consistent with decades, if not centuries, of Russian policy.
“The Russian empire, the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation have always sought to strip Ukraine of its cultural and political elites. Killing our leaders is about erasing us as a nation.”
Fear as a weapon
Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, argues that Russia’s targeted killings inside Ukraine have nothing to do with battlefield conditions or strategies but rather are intended to instill fear.
“The essence of Russian tactics is terror,” he said. “Their murders don’t alter the course of the war, but they create an environment of insecurity and mistrust. That’s the goal.”
Over the past year, a string of killings has been blamed on Moscow’s agents, with a growing list of high-profile Ukrainians struck down.
In July 2024, controversial former lawmaker Iryna Farion was shot in Lviv. Last summer, Col. Ivan Voronych, a leader in the country’s top law enforcement agency, was assassinated in Kyiv. Ukrainian officials said they had dismantled the Russian Federal Security Service cell responsible.
In Spain, Russian pilot turned defector Maxim Kuzminov was riddled with bullets months after handing over a helicopter to Kyiv.
A Ukrainian man arrested in the August assassination of Andriy Parubiy in Lviv reportedly told investigators that Russian agents had blackmailed him, and though no direct evidence has been presented, police officials say Moscow’s fingerprints are on the slaying of the former speaker of Ukraine’s parliament and one of the central figures of the 2014 Maidan revolution.
Ukrainian officials say the pattern is clear: Moscow’s aim is to eliminate prominent activists and political figures and sow fear in the rear. “Neither Farion nor Parubiy could change the military balance,” Mr. Kuzan said. “But their deaths send a message: No one is safe.”
Kyiv’s covert hand
Ukraine has responded with a clandestine campaign that it frames as legitimate defense. Russian officials said Gen. Igor Kirillov, head of Moscow’s nuclear and chemical defense forces, was killed by a bomb planted in a scooter late last year. Months later, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik died in a car explosion outside Moscow.
In occupied towns such as Luhansk, Enerhodar and Melitopol, collaborators and local strongmen have been systematically targeted. In Crimea, former lawmaker Oleg Tsaryov was badly wounded in a shooting widely attributed to Ukrainian operatives.
“Our services act selectively, eliminating high-ranking officers or those orchestrating this war,” Mr. Kuzan said. “Ukraine uses legal means against military targets. Russia uses terror against society.”
Hybrid war spilling outward
Targeted killings are only one facet of a broader hybrid conflict.
For years, Moscow has combined sabotage, assassinations and disinformation across Europe, from the 2014 munitions depot blast in the Czech Republic to more recent arson attacks and cyberstrikes on Western infrastructure.
Today, the fast-paced rise of cheap, remote technology has lowered the bar for such operations.
“What once required years of training can now be done with a Telegram chat or a remote-controlled explosive,” Mr. Kuzan said.
Mr. Sternenko warned that if the fighting in Ukraine stalls, “Europe and the United States could see a surge in sabotage and assassinations as Russia frees up resources.”
Western officials have echoed those warnings. Security agencies in Germany, Poland and the Baltic states say they have disrupted Russian plots in recent months, including attempted bombings of arms depots and rail lines used to supply Ukraine.
For Ukrainians, the campaign also carries a heavy echo of history: “Russia has tried to wipe out our national leaders for centuries,” Mr. Sternenko said. “It won’t stop unless punished. The goal has always been the same: to destroy Ukraine as a nation.”
Analysts say Ukraine’s survival depends on battlefield resilience and whether the West can maintain consistent, long-term support.
“Russia will continue using these methods for as long as it exists,” Mr. Kuzan said. “They will eliminate anyone they consider an enemy of the regime.”
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