How Kyiv grapples with Kremlin spies running amok on the home front
Ukrainian intelligence officers say the killing of Voronych on July 10 was the first successful Russian hit on a high-ranking Ukrainian officer since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. The operation triggered an extensive manhunt that ended in a shootout between the two suspects and authorities on July 13. Both suspects were killed.
An investigation is under way into how the killers were able to enter the country, obtain weapons, infiltrate the complex and take out their target.
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Daily Mail
4 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Mystery as ex Ukrainian official is found dead in a swimming pool at Spain complex where Russian defector helicopter pilot was assassinated
A former Ukrainian official has been found dead in a swimming pool at a Spanish residential complex where a defected Russian helicopter pilot was assassinated. Igor Hrushevsky, an ex-employee of Ukraine 's Ministry of Internal Affairs, was swimming in the pool of a residential complex called Cala Alta in Villajoyosa, south of Valencia, before he was found dead. It is the same building where Maksim Kuzminov was reportedly shot dead after he defected to Ukraine in an Mi-8 helicopter. The Kremlin was accused of carrying out Kuzminov's assassination last year. Hrushevsky, 61, was discovered by a Ukrainian neighbour face down in the swimming pool water and bleeding from one ear at around 9:30pm on June 29. He was showing no signs of life. The passersby pulled him from the water and performed CPR before calling paramedics, but the former official was unable to be saved, according to El Espanol. The cause of death has not yet been revealed. Hrushevsky's death comes just 18 months after Russian defector Kuzminov was killed inside a garage allegedly by Putin's hitmen. He was found riddled with bullets in an underground car park in Villajoyosa near on February 13. Ruben, a local worker, told The Sun he discovered the army captain, 28, in a pool of blood soon after what is believed to have been a brazen Kremlin-ordered hit job. The pilot, who was named and awarded $500,000 (£393,000) by Ukraine after defecting in August 2024, was found dead in the carpark with his attackers allegedly escaping in his car after running him over. The killing put fear through other Russian defectors who have fled to Spain, local media reported. Russian state media claimed Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council had advised Kuzminov to stay in Ukraine, where they could protect him. But after rejecting the advice, he had been given a new identity and joined a large community of Russian speakers living in and around Benidorm using a Ukrainian passport with the name Igor Shevchenko. The Russian pilot had been sentenced to death for 'treason' in Russia after his shock defection, which is believed to have been the conclusion of a delicate six-month operation orchestrated by Ukraine. Police sources told The Sun at the time that the ammunition used to kill him was Russian and the move was believed to be a 'calling card', and it was feared he may have been killed by a Kremlin hit squad based in Costa Blanca. A report also claimed the same hit team may have be responsible for the 2022 death of multimillionaire Sergey Protosenya, 55, who was found hanged after allegedly killing his wife and teenage daughter with an axe as they slept in Costa Rica. Intelligence experts believed the Russian Embassy in Spain stayed on the sidelines to avoid implication, El Pais reported last year. Living under a new identity in Spain - and enriched by the Ukrainians after his defection - he had set about building a new life for himself free from the horrors of war. But he is believed to have made a fatal mistake in contacting a former flame and inviting her to his new address. 'We know he had invited an ex-girlfriend to Spain and afterwards he was found dead. That call could have been intercepted by Russian secret services,' Spanish media reported. Independent Telegram channel Volya - which monitors both sides in the war - drew a link between the case of the slain pilot and the murky circumstances surrounding the demise of multimillionaire Sergey Protosenya, 55. The former oligarch, a deputy chairman of Russian gas company Novatek, was found hanged in spring 2022 after allegedly murdering his wife Natalia, 53, and their teenage daughter, Maria, as they slept in a Catalan resort town.
Telegraph
6 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Police union threatens legal action over Trump visit
The chief constable of Police Scotland has been threatened with legal action ahead of a visit by Donald Trump. The Scottish Police Federation (SPF), which represents more than 16,000 officers, alleged on Monday that workforce agreements to protect the rank and file from working 12-hour shifts had been breached. It said its lawyers had been instructed to examine potential legal action against Police Scotland after some officers were allegedly told they were expected to work 12-hour shifts for up to 10 consecutive days ahead of Mr Trump's visit on Friday. The federation said it had workforce agreements in place to protect officers and provide minimum standards of health and safety at work. It follows warnings by David Threadgold, the SPF chairman, that all officers in Scotland could be affected by the presidential visit, with some expected to work 12-hour shifts, posing a 'challenge' for how they eat, sleep and rest. On Monday, David Kennedy, general secretary of the federation, revealed that two police officers from the north-east who were due to marry this weekend had been told they would have to work. The couple, who have been planning their wedding for a year, have lodged an official request for 'excusal' from duty. Mr Kennedy said he expected the request to be granted but pointed out that police colleagues due to attend as wedding guests would unlikely be able to do so. 'We currently have workforce agreements in place to protect police officers and provide minimum standards of health and safety at work,' Mr Kennedy said. 'Sadly, we have seen these agreements breached in the days leading to the arrival of Potus and as such we are seeking legal advice regarding potential legal action against the service.' Mr Trump is expected to touch down at Prestwick airport on Friday and visit both of his golf courses in Scotland, Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire, between July 25 and July 29. The president will meet Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, in Aberdeen, while plans are being put in place for Mr Trump to meet John Swinney, the First Minister, according to the Scottish Government. Strict airspace restrictions will also be in place over Mr Trump's inaugural Scottish golf resort as part of a vast security operation. Police Scotland has asked for Northern Irish officers to assist and has submitted a mutual aid request to the Police Service of Northern Ireland for additional officers. Police forces usually make requests ahead of large operations or when their resources are stretched. Mr Kennedy added: 'So, there's two agreements running. We reached an agreement to cover it, and they then have reneged on that agreement and breached our current force agreement that covers everybody. 'The breach of the agreement won't stop the policing of the event, but what it's to do with is how officers are paid and how they're remunerated for any work that takes place during the president's arrival and time here.' Assistant Chief Constable Emma Bond of Police Scotland said: 'We are working closely with the Scottish Police Federation to address any concerns they may have.'
The Guardian
6 minutes ago
- The Guardian
UK ban on Palestine Action is an abuse of power, high court told
An intelligence assessment before Palestine Action was banned under antiterrorism laws found that the vast majority of its activities were lawful, a court has heard. Raza Husain KC, appearing for Huda Ammori, a co-founder of the group said Yvette Cooper's decision to proscribe the group on 5 July was 'repugnant' and an 'authoritarian and blatant abuse of power'. In written submissions for Monday's high court hearing, Husain and Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC said: 'On 'nature and scale', the home secretary accepts that only three of Palestine Action's at least 385 actions would meet the statutory definition of terrorism (… itself a dubious assessment).' Husain said it was for the court to consider 'whether that's sufficient or whether it's de minimis (too small to be meaningful) for a group that's been going for five years'. He added that the vast majority of the group's actions were assessed by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre to be lawful. Challenging the ban on the grounds that it contravened freedom of expression and assembly under the European convention on human rights, Ní Ghrálaigh said the proscription had already had a significant impact. 'Dozens and dozens of people have been arrested for protesting, seated and mostly silent protest,' she added. Among the cases she highlighted were protesters near the BAE Systems factory in Samlesbury, Lancashire, who were stopped by police who asked them to remove shirts reading 'Free Palestine' because they might have breached the proscription order. She said a man in Leeds was arrested for carrying a placard reproducing a graphic from Private Eye magazine, which said: 'Unacceptable Palestine Action: Spraying military planes. Acceptable Palestine Action: Shooting Palestinians queueing for food'. Ní Ghrálaigh said Merseyside police had bailed someone on condition they did not 'mention' Palestine. She highlighted the case of Laura Murton, first reported by the Guardian, who was threatened with arrest by armed police for supporting a proscribed organisation because she was holding a Palestinian flag and had signs saying 'Free Gaza' and 'Israel is committing genocide'. Mr Justice Chamberlain said in response: 'This is obviously an officer that doesn't understand the law at all.' Ní Ghrálaigh pointed out that Kent police had not apologised. Ammori's lawyers said the timing of the ban indicated that 'national security risk was not a material factor' and was secondary to 'political considerations'. Although a review body recommended banning Palestine Action on 13 March, Husain and Ní Ghrálaigh said Foreign Office memos had advised 'against moving to implement a decision to proscribe quickly'. This was because proscription might be received poorly domestically and abroad if implemented shortly after Israel's resumption of military action in Gaza. Sir James Eadie KC, representing the Home Office, accepted it was true that most of Palestine Action's activities were not terrorism but said: 'The incidents are serious and they're escalating.' He focused almost exclusively on process, telling the court in written submissions: 'Parliament has prescribed the alternative and appropriate remedy namely an appeal to POAC (Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission) as the appropriate mechanism for challenging proscription; POAC's procedures are better suited to such a challenge; and there is no good reason for going behind that process in the present case.' Chamberlain said he would give his decision on 30 July on whether to grant Ammori permission for a judicial review.
