Ukrainain SBU General Volodymyr Lyapkin Eliminated After Years of Serving Russian Intelligence

Major General Volodymyr Lyapkin, a former high-ranking official in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) who defected to Russia following the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, has been killed in action, independent Russian outlet Mediazona and pro-Kremlin propagandist Oleg Tsarov reported on April 6.

According sources, Lyapkin died on March 17, 2026, while fighting against Ukrainian forces.

Lyapkin, 59, was serving under the call sign “Baty” in the Russian volunteer battalion BARS-33 (also known as the Margelov Battalion, created by Kherson occupation head Volodymyr Saldo). Mediazona confirmed that he was killed alongside Eduard Malov, a former Russian EMERCOM  colonel from the Moscow region who likely operated under the call sign “Zarya.” Both men were 1989 graduates of the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School.

Before fleeing to annexed Crimea in 2014, Lyapkin headed the SBU’s operational documentation department, where he oversaw the agency’s “invisible work,” including wiretapping, surveillance, and covert information gathering. He received his Major General rank in 2013 and, according to Tsarov, personally engaged in direct physical clashes with protesters during the violent crackdowns on the Ukrainian protesters.

Lyapkin resurfaced during the 2022 full-scale invasion as the deputy head of the “State Security Service” in the occupied Kherson region. The oppressive structure was established by his former boss, Oleksandr Yakimenko, who headed the SBU from 2013 to 2014 before also fleeing to Russia.

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In 2025, the SBU officially charged Lyapkin in absentia with collaboration. Ukrainian intelligence identified him as a key figure in orchestrating “filtration measures” in filtration camps and carrying out severe repressions against the civilian population.

While Tsarov claimed Lyapkin retained his Major General status within the Russian FSB, Mediazona noted there are no public decrees confirming he was ever officially awarded a general’s rank in any Russian security structure.

The elimination of Major General Volodymyr Lyapkin adds to a recent wave of severe casualties among high-ranking Russian command personnel. Russian An-26 military transport plane had recently crashed over occupied Crimea, killing Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko.

Otroshchenko, the commander of the Northern Fleet’s mixed aviation corps and former head of the 45th Air Force and Air Defense Army, perished alongside 28 other Russian personnel. Together, the sequential losses of a key occupation intelligence figure and a central aviation commander are significant blows to the leadership structures of Moscow’s forces.

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