Russian authorities announced on Sunday that the individual suspected of shooting a deputy chief of Russia’s military intelligence agency in Moscow was apprehended in Dubai and extradited to Russia. They asserted that he was acting on behalf of Ukraine.
Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was hospitalized after being shot multiple times by an attacker at a residential complex in northwestern Moscow on Friday, according to Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko. This incident followed a string of killings of high-ranking military officials that Russia has attributed to Ukraine.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) disclosed that a Russian national named Lyubomir Korba was arrested in Dubai on suspicion of perpetrating the shooting. The FSB also identified two alleged accomplices, with one detained in Moscow and the other reportedly fleeing to Ukraine.
Russia’s Investigative Committee relayed on the Telegram messaging platform that Korba had arrived in Moscow in December with instructions from Ukrainian intelligence services to carry out a terrorist attack.
In response to the shooting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov labeled it a potential “terrorist act” orchestrated by Ukraine to disrupt peace negotiations. Kyiv had not immediately responded to these accusations.
The shooting occurred the day after Russian, Ukrainian, and U.S. negotiators concluded talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at resolving the long-standing conflict in Ukraine. The Russian delegation, led by Alekseyev’s superior Admiral Igor Kostyukov, was part of these discussions.
Alekseyev, aged 64, has been the deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, since 2011. He was honored with the Hero of Russia medal for his contributions to the military operations in Syria.
Furthermore, a deadly Russian airstrike struck a residential area in eastern Ukraine, resulting in one fatality and two injuries, as reported by officials on Sunday. The attack in Kramatorsk caused a fire in a nine-story apartment building, as per Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
Additionally, Russia targeted energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Poltava region overnight into Sunday, according to Serhii Koretskyi, the CEO of Ukraine’s state-owned gas company, Naftogaz. Russia has persistently attacked Ukraine’s power grid, particularly during winter, as part of a strategy to undermine Ukrainian resilience, known to Kyiv officials as “weaponizing winter.”
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy revealed that the U.S. had set a June deadline for Ukraine and Russia to reach a peace agreement. Failure to meet this deadline could lead to increased pressure from the Trump administration on both parties to accelerate the peace process. Zelenskyy emphasized the need for a clear timeline to end the conflict before the specified deadline.
