The SSU Counterintelligence has apprehended an FSB agent in hot pursuit after he attempted to assassinate one of the officials of Melitopol City Council in Zaporizhzhia region.

Following the instructions of russia’s federal security service, the perpetrator waited for the official in the entrance to a residential building and then struck him several times on the head with a hammer. Despite numerous injuries, the victim survived.

The killer acted under the guise of a utility worker who was carrying out maintenance work in the building where the official lived.

After committing the crime, he was preparing to flee to the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia oblast through EU states. He intended to use one of the ‘draft evasion schemes’ to cross the state border.

The SSU tracked down the suspect and detained him on his escape attempt.

He is a repeat offender who lived in the temporarily occupied Melitopol. The man came to the enemy’s attention when he was serving a sentence, before the war, in a russian prison for a premeditated murder.

In June 2024, he was recruited and sent to a special training course at an FSB training center in the temporarily occupied part of the region.

There, under the guidance of russian instructors, the asset trained in the use of firearms, knife fighting techniques and tradecraft.

To carry out the assignment, the killer arrived in Zaporizhzhia posing as an internally displaced person. He started surveilling his victim’s work and home addresses, as well as routes of his movement.

To cover his tracks, the agent constantly changed rented apartments and communicated with his russian handler in an anonymous messenger chat.

In case the enemy accomplice murdered the Ukrainian official, the occupiers promised him a house in Melitopol. It actually belongs to residents who were forced to leave because of the occupation.

SSU investigators have now served the detainee a notice of suspicion under two Articles of the CCU:

• 111.2 (high treason, committed under martial law);
• 15.2, 115.2 (attempted premeditated contract murder).

The suspect is in custody and faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

The operation was carried out by the SSU Office in Zaporizhzhia region under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor’s Office.