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Ex-Officer Claims Ukraine Spies Approved Monaco Bombing

Did Ukraine's military intelligence order an assassination campaign or is a murder suspect's shifting prison testimony pinning a rogue operation on Kyiv?
Ex-Officer Claims Ukraine Spies Approved Monaco Bombing
Above: Former SBU officer Vitalii Zhykovych, a suspect in the murder of Anastasiia Berezovska, appears in a Kyiv Court on July 9. Image credit: Pavlo Bahmut/Contributor/Ukrinform/Future Publishing/Getty Images

The Spin


Government-critical narrative

Ukraine’s military intelligence is increasingly looking guilty, with a chain of command pointing upward rather than toward random freelancers. A mission framed as punishment for financing Russia, combined with an active officer’s role, carries the hallmarks of state authorization. Kyiv’s security apparatus cannot credibly dismiss coordinated violence as ordinary crime.

Pro-government narrative

The accusation against Kyiv rests on a murder suspect’s shifting story, unsupported by independent evidence and contradicted by an earlier claim of civilian direction. A rogue operation fits the record far better than state authorization. Uncorroborated prison testimony cannot establish government policy.


Go Deeper

© 2026 Improve the News Foundation. All rights reserved.Version 7.4.1

© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 7.4.1