Ukrainian special services killed a man in Donetsk linked to the murders of officers Maksym Shapoval and Oleksandr Kharaberiush.

Sources in the special services told LB.ua. They also provided photographs confirming surveillance of Shutov and his killing.

According to the publication’s sources, Ukrainian special services carried out the operation in temporarily occupied territory. On the evening of July 27, Shutov arrived by Subaru at the Dynamo sports complex in Donetsk’s Leninskyi district. An improvised explosive device detonated inside the vehicle.

Occupation-linked information resources reported the incident as an alleged “nighttime UAV attack,” claiming that the head of the sports wrestling federation was injured. According to LB.ua’s sources, Shutov was killed in the vehicle explosion.

The killing was not reported immediately for security reasons — until the agent-combat group involved in the operation returned to territory controlled by Ukraine.

Oleh Shutov was an operative with the special operations center of the so-called “DPR MGB,” which was controlled by russian special services. He also headed the so-called “DPR” judo and sambo association. In April 2024, the occupiers dissolved the “DPR MGB” and transferred its functions to the local FSB directorate.

Shutov was linked to the murder of Major General Maksym Shapoval, commander of the 10th Separate Special Operations Detachment of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. On June 27, 2017, the intelligence officer’s car exploded in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district. Shapoval was killed.

In April 2019, the Security Service of Ukraine publicly identified Shutov as the perpetrator of the terrorist attack. The then-head of the Security Service, Vasyl Hrytsak, said that Shutov had rented an apartment in the building where Shapoval lived, as well as a parking space near the location where the general left his car.

According to Hrytsak, after completing the mission, Shutov returned to the rented apartment about an hour later to collect his belongings, left Kyiv for russia, and from there traveled to Donbas.

Shutov was also linked to the murder of SBU Colonel Oleksandr Kharaberiush. On March 31, 2017, his car was blown up in Mariupol. Kharaberiush, who headed the counterintelligence department of the SBU directorate in Donetsk region, was killed.

According to the SBU, the organizers of both murders were FSB Lieutenant General Dmitry Minaev, head of the FSB department for counterintelligence operations, and Vasyl Yevdokimov, head of the special operations center of the so-called “DPR MGB,” who used the call sign “Lenin.”

In April 2019, the SBU also detained seven members of a sabotage and reconnaissance group from russia, two of whom were career officers of the russian special services. Investigators established the group’s connection to Shutov.

According to the SBU, the group was planning to assassinate an officer of Ukrainian military intelligence. While planting explosives under his car, one of the saboteurs was killed in the blast.