Russia’s security service claims to have foiled Ukrainian assassination attempt against a high-ranking official

By Lex Harvey and Svitlana Vlasova, CNN

(CNN) — Russia’s security service has claimed it foiled a plot by Ukraine to assassinate a high-ranking Kremlin official inside Russia as the alleged target visited a graveyard.

The claim by Russia’s Federal Security Service – the FSB – came as residents of Kyiv experienced another heavy night of deadly Russian aerial attacks that killed at least five people, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian special services were planning to target the unnamed official, described as “one of the highest-ranking officials of the Russian state,” while he was visiting the graves of his relatives at a cemetery outside Moscow, according to a Friday statement by Russia’s FSB.

The FSB also claimed in its statement that Ukraine is planning similar attacks inside Russia.

CNN could not independently verify Russia’s claims. The Security Service of Ukraine denied the report, telling CNN, “They are churning out fake news and statements non-stop. Our position is not to comment on their nonsense.”

Ukraine has claimed responsibility for assassinating Russian officials in the past, including a commander killed last month in Siberia.

Both Ukraine and Russia launched aerial attacks into each other’s territory overnight into Friday, according to authorities in the respective countries.

In Kyiv, local authorities said at least five people were killed and dozens injured in the latest attacks. Among the wounded were two children and a pregnant woman, according to the city’s military administration.

More than 15 buildings were damaged in the capital, including residences and a medical facility, it added.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack targeted the Russian port city of Novorossiysk, wounding at least four people and damaging an oil depot, according to the governor of Krasnodar Krai.

Assassinations have become a hallmark of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Targeted killings inside Russia and Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine have surged since 2022, according to monitoring group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED).

There were more assassination attempts inside Russia in the first three quarters of 2025 than the annual totals of the previous three years, ACLED reported.

Last month, Ukraine said it assassinated a Russian officer, Veniamin Mazzherin, using a car bomb. Mazzherin, deputy commander of a Russian military police unit in Kemerovo, southwest Siberia, allegedly helped lead a special unit involved in “war crimes and genocide against the Ukrainian people,” according to Ukrainian Defense Intelligence.

In April, Russian General Yaroslav Moskalik was killed in a car explosion outside Moscow. Russian authorities said they charged a “Ukrainian special services agent” with terrorism, though Ukraine did not claim any responsibility for the incident.

A few months before that, a top Russian general accused of using chemical weapons in Ukraine was killed by a remotely detonated bomb planted in an electric scooter outside an apartment building in Moscow. A source with knowledge of the operation told CNN at the time that Ukraine’s security services were behind the assassination.

In November 2023, Ukraine said it was responsible for the assassination of Mikhail Filiponenko, a lawmaker in a Kremlin-installed assembly in the occupied eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk. Filiponenko was also killed with a car bomb.

Ukraine has also seen assassinations. In July, a Ukrainian security services officer was gunned down in broad daylight in Kyiv, with authorities blaming Russia’s security services for the killing.

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CNN’s Kosta Gak, Catherine Nicholls, Daria Tarasova-Markina and Anna Chernova contributed reporting.