SBU says it foiled FSB-linked plot to assassinate K-1 kickboxing federation president in Kyiv

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said on Sept. 22 that it had foiled an alleged Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)-linked plot to assassinate a former Ukrainian serviceman who serves as president of Ukraine’s K-1 kickboxing federation.

The SBU did not publicly name the intended target, saying only that he had fought for Ukraine since 2022, first in Kyiv Oblast and later on the eastern front, and currently heads a nationwide civic organization while working as a kickboxing coach.

Ukrainska Pravda, citing law enforcement sources, identified him as Akhmad Akhmedov.

According to the SBU, the suspect planned to shoot Akhmedov with a handgun from an ambush near a Kyiv sports facility where he works as a coach.

"In this way, Russia sought to kill a Russian opposition figure who had fought for Ukraine since 2022," the SBU said.

Security officers detained the woman near the sports complex while she was allegedly conducting reconnaissance and looking for a suitable firing position, the agency said.

The suspect is a 30-year-old resident of Russian-occupied Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to the SBU. She entered Ukrainian-controlled territory through Belarus in August 2026.

The SBU said Russian intelligence recruited the woman in exchange for closing a criminal case related to illegal drug possession.

She subsequently underwent training at an FSB facility in Russian-occupied territory, where she was instructed in operational security, navigation, and firearms use, according to the agency.

After completing the training, she was sent through Belarus to Zhytomyr before traveling to Kyiv where she was later detained.

The woman is being held in custody without bail and faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property if convicted.

The case adds to a growing number of investigations in Ukraine and across Europe into Russian-linked plots targeting Ukrainian officials, military personnel, activists, and public figures since the start of the full-scale invasion.

In August, Polish authorities arrested a Russian national accused of preparing to kill a U.S.-Ukrainian dual citizen in Warsaw.

In June, Ukrainian law enforcement detained a 38-year-old man who was planning to assassinate Andrii Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence and deputy head of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, using an FPV drone, according to the National Police.

The case marks the second publicly known Russian-linked assassination plot targeting Yusov in 2026.