Ukrainian police arrested a Russian-recruited agent in Kyiv who was planning to assassinate a senior official of Defense Intelligence (GUR) using an FPV drone, the National Police announced on 8 June. The suspect, a 38-year-old Kyiv resident with a prior criminal record for property offenses, had received a $10,000 advance on a promised $100,000 bounty.

The target was Andrii Yusov, GUR's spokesperson and deputy head of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, according to law enforcement sources cited by multiple Ukrainian outlets including Hromadske and OBOZ.UA. In February, a joint Ukrainian-Moldovan operation dismantled a 10-person network that had also targeted Yusov among at least five public figures—making this the second known assassination attempt against him in under four months.

The suspect planned to hire an FPV drone operator

The agent spent weeks studying Yusov's daily schedule, commute routes, residence, vehicles, and surrounding infrastructure before settling on an FPV drone as the method, the police statement said. He then began searching for an operator with the skills to pilot one.

FPV drones—cheap, fast, first-person-view kamikaze weapons that have killed more soldiers in Russia's war on Ukraine than almost any other single weapon type—have not been known to be used for targeted assassination inside Ukraine before. OBOZ.UA reported that the suspect planned to use a loitering variant known as a "zhun"—a drone that hovers in position and waits for the target to appear.

Police intercepted a recorded conversation in which the suspect used codewords, referring to the assassination plan as "construction" and the drone method as "airborne-droplet transmission through the air," Hromadske reported. He also consulted a fortune teller, asking for spiritual help so "the guys would do the 'construction' and safely go home."

Officers arrested the suspect before he could act

Detectives from the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department, working with GUR's Internal Security directorate, arrested the man before the plot could be carried out, the police said. Officers seized mobile phones, a GPS tracker, a vehicle, and other evidence during a search of his residence.

The suspect has been charged under Article 14(1) and Article 115(2) of Ukraine's Criminal Code—preparation for premeditated murder for mercenary motives. The charge carries a sentence of 10 to 15 years, or life imprisonment.

The investigation, supervised by the Office of the Prosecutor General, is ongoing. Police said they are working to identify other individuals involved in the plot.

Russia's assassination campaign in Ukraine continues to escalate

The arrest is the latest in a series of Russian-directed assassination plots targeting Ukrainian public figures. In February, the dismantled network had planned to kill at least five targets using shootings and car bombs, with Russian handlers offering up to $100,000 per killing.

In May 2025, activist and drone supplier Serhii Sternenko was shot and wounded by an agent who had rented an apartment to surveil him. In August 2025, former politician Andriy Parubiy was shot dead in Lviv in a killing that authorities linked to Russia.