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SSU prevents assassination of Serhii Filimonov, commander of 108th separate battalion "Wolves of Da Vinci", by FSB

Security Service of Ukraine

10:00, 29 July 2025

The SSU has prevented the contract killing of Serhii Filimonov, commander of the 108th separate battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, "Wolves of Da Vinci". According to the investigation, the assassination attempt was planned by the FSB. To carry out the crime, the russian special service recruited a resident of Dnipropetrovsk region under the guise of working for the SSU.

Covert operations "under a false flag" are a relatively new tactic for russian intelligence services. During recruitment interviews, FSB representatives pose as SSU officers and assign tasks to agents allegedly in the interests of Ukraine.

In such a way, an ATO serviceman from the city of Kamianske was convinced that he had been instructed by the SSU to neutralize an enemy spotter, rather than a Ukrainian military commander.

According to the investigation, a representative of the russian special services contacted the man on social media, posing as an SSU employee. During the conversation, she said that the online store where the suspect had ordered medicines was funding russian troops. She used these fakes to accuse him of "treason" and told that a criminal case had been opened against him.

In order to increase pressure on the agent, FSB representatives sent a false summons for questioning by the SSU. Then, they offered to "cooperate" with the SSU promising to close the criminal case. To this end, they sent him an application form to join the SSU and instructed him to come to Kyiv.

FSB handlers manipulated the patriotic sentiments of the man who sincerely believed that he was helping the Ukrainian special services fight the enemy. In correspondence with his liaison, he expressed his willingness to destroy the occupiers, even at the cost of his own life.

When he got to Kyiv, he was instructed to rent an apartment where, according to the FSB, a Ukrainian military commander whom the occupiers planned to kill was living, and to start spying on Serhii Filimonov's car.

At the same time, the FSB officer presented the Ukrainian military commander as a "traitor" who was allegedly adjusting russian strikes on Kyiv. After one of the massive missile strikes, the handler convinced the suspect that the "target" he was monitoring was responsible for this.

The agent regularly sent reports of his visual surveillance to his handler, in particular photos taken in the courtyard of the house and descriptions of the serviceman's movements.

Later, the FSB handler gave the suspect the coordinates of a cache on the outskirts of Kyiv with automatic weapons. The man continued surveillance and then was instructed to kill the Ukrainian serviceman.

The SSU detained the recruited man as he was leaving the building with a loaded weapon.

During the search, the suspect was seized of a mobile phone used to contact with his FSB handler.

Under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor General's Office, the detainee was notified of suspicion under Article 263 of the CCU (illegal possession of weapons and ammunition).

Please note: Representatives of the Security Service do not hire people over the phone, do not ask them to perform illegal actions, and do not assign suspicious tasks. The SSU operates exclusively within the framework of current Ukrainian legislation.

If you receive suspicious offers or contacts from unknown persons claiming to be SSU officers, immediately report this to the SSU hotline at 0 800 501 482 or the BURN THE FSB-MAN chatbot at t.me/spaly_fsb_bot.