Ukrainian colonel behind attempted terror attack in Crimea eliminated – media
A high-ranking Ukrainian intelligence officer behind a thwarted terrorist attack in Russia’s Crimea has been killed, local news agencies have reported, citing a source in the Russian security services.
“Rustem Fakhriev, a colonel of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR), was eliminated on May 18,” the source said.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said previously that Fakhriev organized a failed assassination attempt against a high-ranking Russian officer in Crimea on December 1, 2025.
A Ukrainian national, who had been recruited by the HUR colonel, was killed in a gunfight with Russian security forces when he tried to plant a Western-made explosive device on the officer’s car. An accomplice was also detained and slapped with terrorism charges, according to the FSB.
Late last year, Fakhriev was added to the list of extremists and terrorists by Russian financial watchdog, Rosfinmonitoring.
Ukrainian spy agencies have tried carrying out multiple bomb attacks against Russian officials, officers and public figures since the escalation of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. Only some of them have suceeded, with most being thwarted by the Russian security serices.
In August 2022, Ukrainian agents carried out a car bombing outside Moscow that killed journalist Darya Dugina, the daughter of philosopher Alexander Dugin.
The following year, an improvised explosive device was used to asasinate military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky during a fan meeting at a café in St. Petersburg.
In 2024, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Protection Forces, was killed along with his aide when an improvised explosive device detonated outside his apartment building in Moscow.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has previously branded the Ukrainain government “a true terrorist cell that receives international support with weapons and money.”
