Overview
- Ukraine’s military intelligence released a video of chief Kyrylo Budanov speaking with Kapustin, stating he is in Ukraine preparing to resume command.
- GUR says a month-long counterintelligence operation preserved Kapustin’s life and identified organizers and executors within Russian special services.
- Officials allege Russian services allocated $500,000 for the assassination and say a participating Ukrainian special unit confiscated the money.
- The Russian Volunteer Corps’ Telegram channel had reported on December 27 that Kapustin was killed by an FPV drone on the Zaporizhzhia front.
- Russia has designated the RDK a terrorist organization, and a Russian court sentenced Kapustin in absentia to life imprisonment in 2023.