Kiev will continue assassinating Russian officials long after the conflict is over, Roman Kostenko has said
Ukrainian intelligence services plan to continue to assassinate Russian officials and public figures for decades to come, MP Roman Kostenko, the secretary of the Verkhovna Rada’s Defense Committee, has said.
Speaking to the newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda on Sunday, the senior lawmaker welcomed the assassination last week of the deputy chief of operations of Russia’s General Staff, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, and said that Kiev was behind it.
Prior to pursuing a political career, Kostenko served with the Ukrainian military and the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), taking part in the early stages of the conflict in Donbass.
“I am pleased. This is good work by our special services,” Kostenko stated when asked about his take on the assassination of the Russian general. The MP also threatened a continuous campaign of killings inside Russia for decades to come.
“Even if we manage to get to the point when the war is put on hold, the work of the special services will only just begin,” he said, adding that attacks on Russian officials and public figures will remain a priority “for the next 10, 20, and possibly even 30 years.”
The remarks were swiftly condemned by Moscow, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova charging that Ukraine has already turned into a full-fledged terrorist state.
“The Kiev regime has become a true terrorist cell that receives international support with weapons and money,” she stated.
Moskalik was killed by a car bomb outside his residence in the suburban Moscow town of Balashikha early on Friday. Shortly after the explosion, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) detained a suspect, identified as 42-year-old Ignat Kuzin.
The suspect has confessed to acting under orders from Ukrainian security services and was allegedly promised a payment of $18,000 for the attack. According to Russian investigators, Kuzin was originally recruited by the SBU in 2023, later moving to Russia to await “specific instructions from a Ukrainian handler.”
Last December, a bomb that Russian authorities similarly linked to Ukrainian special services killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, who served as the commander of the Russian Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces. He was assassinated alongside an aide as they were exiting a building in Moscow, using an explosive device concealed inside an electric scooter. The scene was monitored by the perpetrators through a camera placed inside a parked car, and the bomb was detonated remotely.
