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Ukrainian Security Service Intercepts Russian FSB Plan to Kill "Da Vinci Wolves" Leader
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![Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko]( "Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko")
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has thwarted a Russian-backed plot to assassinate Serhii Filimonov, commander of the 108th Separate Battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, also known as the “Da Vinci Wolves.” According to the investigation, the operation was orchestrated by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine on July 29.
The SBU revealed that Russian intelligence recruited a resident of Dnipropetrovsk region, deceiving him into believing he was working for the Ukrainian security service.
“Agent operations under a false flag are a relatively new tactic for the Russian special services. During recruitment conversations, FSB operatives pose as SBU officers and assign tasks to agents allegedly in the interests of Ukraine,” the SBU stated.
Investigators say the recruited agent was an ATO veteran from Kamianske who was misled into thinking he had been tasked with eliminating a Russian collaborator — unaware that the real target was a Ukrainian military commander.
A woman, claiming to be an SBU officer, contacted the man through social media. During the call, she told him that an online pharmacy where he had previously purchased medical supplies was allegedly funding Russian forces. She used this fabricated accusation to threaten him with “state treason” and claimed that a criminal case had been opened against him.
To increase psychological pressure, the FSB sent the man a forged summons for questioning at the SBU. He was then offered supposed “cooperation” with the service in exchange for having the charges dropped. As part of the ruse, he received a fake SBU recruitment questionnaire and was instructed to travel to Kyiv, SBU noted.
“The FSB handlers exploited the man’s patriotic beliefs. He genuinely thought he was helping Ukraine’s security service fight the enemy. In his messages to the handler, he expressed willingness to eliminate occupiers—even at the cost of his own life,” the SBU said.
According to the agency, the FSB later provided the suspect with coordinates to a weapons cache on the outskirts of Kyiv, where a Kalashnikov rifle had been hidden. After retrieving the weapon, he resumed surveillance of the target and was ultimately ordered to carry out the killing.
SBU operatives detained the man as he exited his residence with a loaded firearm.
A mobile phone used to communicate with the FSB handler was seized during the search, according to SBU.
Under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the suspect has been formally charged under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
Earlier, Ukraine’s Security Service foiled a covert intelligence-gathering mission orchestrated by Belarusian security services along Ukraine’s northern border.
In a statement the SBU reported that a 24-year-old resident of the Volyn region had been recruited by the Belarusian KGB through anonymous Telegram channels. Lured by promises of quick money, the unemployed man agreed to monitor and report on the positions of Ukrainian Armed Forces near the border.
