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Murder of the “first cyborg” in Kyiv. Explosion of the car of the commander of special intelligence officers Maxim Shapoval in the photos of Serhiy Nuzhnenko

27.6.2024
2
min read

On June 27, 2017, around 8 am, the commander of one of the special purpose units of the Main Intelligence Directorate Maxim Shapoval died. His car exploded at the intersection of Solomenskaya and Mechanisatorov streets. The murder was classified as a terrorist act.

The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers publishes pictures of Serhiy Nuzhnenko, who recorded the consequences of the crime.

“The First Cyborg”

On June 27, 2017, at 8:10am in Kyiv as a result of a car explosion, Colonel GUR MO, commander of the 10th OZSPP Maxim Shapoval died. Two more people were injured during the explosion, they received shrapnel wounds, but their lives were not threatened. The murder of Maxim Shapoval is compared with the death of the head of the counterintelligence department of the Main Directorate of SBU in Donetsk region Colonel Oleksandr Kharaberiush, which took place on March 31, 2017 in Mariupol. The main military prosecutor's office investigated the crime with the involvement of all Ukrainian special services. The main version is the Russian footprint. Maxim Shapoval performed combat missions in the ATO zone and coordinated the actions of other special forces officers.

Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko for Radio Svoboda

The terrorist act and its investigation were immediately discussed in a closed meeting with the participation of law enforcement leaders. Representatives of all special services, investigators of the military prosecutor's office, prosecutors, as well as operational counterintelligence officers of the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police worked on the case.

“The strength of the explosive device, which was activated at 8.14 am, was such that at a distance of 50 meters, I apologize to the family of the deceased, for saying this, at the height of the first floor were found parts of the body of the deceased,” the chief military prosecutor Anatoly Matali told journalists Ios. He added that Maxim Shapoval was a combat officer and, in particular, commanded the first group of special forces that liberated Donetsk airport in the spring of 2014. “Already after that, groups from the 3rd and 8th special purpose regiments entered the facility, and the first group was led and commanded by the deceased. So, it was the first Ukrainian “cyborg”, — said military prosecutor Anatoly Matios.

Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko for Radio Svoboda

Bang

Eyewitnesses of the event recall a very strong explosion, its strength can be assessed on video from a surveillance camera, which was quickly posted on the Internet. According to the head of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv Andriy Kryshchenko, the explosives were planted from the bottom of the car, inside or under the bottom. The strength of the homemade explosive device was about three kilograms in TNT equivalent. Officially, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported a strength of about one kilogram. For comparison: hand grenades contain from 60 to 110 grams of tulle.

Colonel Maxim Shapoval lived near the scene of the explosion. The car that was blown up was a military service vehicle. He usually drove with a driver, but that day he was driving alone. Explosives could be laid when the car was at the service station, or in the underground parking.

Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko for Radio Svoboda

A few hours after the assassination of Colonel Maxim Shapoval, a hacker attack on Ukraine began. Presumably, these two events are connected and timed to the Constitution Day of Ukraine. On the same day, Colonel Yuriy Vozny, an employee of the Counterintelligence Department, died from a car explosion. The crime took place in the village of Illinovka, Konstantinovsky district in Donetsk region. This crime was also classified as a terrorist act.

Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko for Radio Svoboda

Photographer Serhiy Nuzhnenko documented the aftermath of Maxim Shapoval's car blowing up in Kyiv. “It's been a long time ago and it's hard to remember the details. However, I remember that in the period 2016-2018, such explosions from cars or other explosions occurred periodically. There is an attempt to assassinate journalist Palv Sheremet, here is this explosion, an attempt on Mosiychuk, etc. Then it seemed that such events had become somehow natural. This happened every few months and that's why you get used to them,” says Serhiy Nuzhnenko, “I remember the day when Maxim Shapoval's car was blown up. I found out about the explosion in our reporter chat and went to the scene. The police were already working there. But I remembered one moment that struck me. Near the destroyed car, I saw a man sitting on his knees and crying bitterly, raising his hands to the sky. It was probably the father of the deceased.”

Recall that the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers has started a series of materials dedicated tokey events of the Russian war against Ukraine, where he publishes memoirs and photographs of Ukrainian documentary photographers.

Serhiy Nuzhnenko— reportage photographer. Photocorrespondent of Radio Svoboda since 2016. Since February 2022, he has become a war photographer: he filmed events in Kyiv, Chernihiv region, Kharkiv region, and now works mainly in Donbas. He is the author of photos from Bucha and Irpen, which Ukrposhta used in their stamps for the anniversary of the liberation of Kyiv region in March 2023. Serhiy Nuzhnenko's Works Completed the International Exhibition #OntheFrontlinesofTruth organized by the NGO “Institute of Mass Information” and the international organization in the field of independent media development Internews. The pictures were exhibited at the station in Vilnius. Also, Nuzhnenko's picture about Russian aggression in Ukraine was included in 100 photos of 2022 according to Time magazine. During the Revolution of Dignity, Nuzhnenko was one of the nine “Bankova prisoners”.

Photographer's social networks: Facebook Instagram

On June 27, 2017, around 8 am, the commander of one of the special purpose units of the Main Intelligence Directorate Maxim Shapoval died. His car exploded at the intersection of Solomenskaya and Mechanisatorov streets. The murder was classified as a terrorist act.

The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers publishes pictures of Serhiy Nuzhnenko, who recorded the consequences of the crime.

“The First Cyborg”

On June 27, 2017, at 8:10am in Kyiv as a result of a car explosion, Colonel GUR MO, commander of the 10th OZSPP Maxim Shapoval died. Two more people were injured during the explosion, they received shrapnel wounds, but their lives were not threatened. The murder of Maxim Shapoval is compared with the death of the head of the counterintelligence department of the Main Directorate of SBU in Donetsk region Colonel Oleksandr Kharaberiush, which took place on March 31, 2017 in Mariupol. The main military prosecutor's office investigated the crime with the involvement of all Ukrainian special services. The main version is the Russian footprint. Maxim Shapoval performed combat missions in the ATO zone and coordinated the actions of other special forces officers.

Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko for Radio Svoboda

The terrorist act and its investigation were immediately discussed in a closed meeting with the participation of law enforcement leaders. Representatives of all special services, investigators of the military prosecutor's office, prosecutors, as well as operational counterintelligence officers of the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police worked on the case.

“The strength of the explosive device, which was activated at 8.14 am, was such that at a distance of 50 meters, I apologize to the family of the deceased, for saying this, at the height of the first floor were found parts of the body of the deceased,” the chief military prosecutor Anatoly Matali told journalists Ios. He added that Maxim Shapoval was a combat officer and, in particular, commanded the first group of special forces that liberated Donetsk airport in the spring of 2014. “Already after that, groups from the 3rd and 8th special purpose regiments entered the facility, and the first group was led and commanded by the deceased. So, it was the first Ukrainian “cyborg”, — said military prosecutor Anatoly Matios.

Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko for Radio Svoboda

Bang

Eyewitnesses of the event recall a very strong explosion, its strength can be assessed on video from a surveillance camera, which was quickly posted on the Internet. According to the head of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv Andriy Kryshchenko, the explosives were planted from the bottom of the car, inside or under the bottom. The strength of the homemade explosive device was about three kilograms in TNT equivalent. Officially, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported a strength of about one kilogram. For comparison: hand grenades contain from 60 to 110 grams of tulle.

Colonel Maxim Shapoval lived near the scene of the explosion. The car that was blown up was a military service vehicle. He usually drove with a driver, but that day he was driving alone. Explosives could be laid when the car was at the service station, or in the underground parking.

Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko for Radio Svoboda

A few hours after the assassination of Colonel Maxim Shapoval, a hacker attack on Ukraine began. Presumably, these two events are connected and timed to the Constitution Day of Ukraine. On the same day, Colonel Yuriy Vozny, an employee of the Counterintelligence Department, died from a car explosion. The crime took place in the village of Illinovka, Konstantinovsky district in Donetsk region. This crime was also classified as a terrorist act.

Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko for Radio Svoboda

Photographer Serhiy Nuzhnenko documented the aftermath of Maxim Shapoval's car blowing up in Kyiv. “It's been a long time ago and it's hard to remember the details. However, I remember that in the period 2016-2018, such explosions from cars or other explosions occurred periodically. There is an attempt to assassinate journalist Palv Sheremet, here is this explosion, an attempt on Mosiychuk, etc. Then it seemed that such events had become somehow natural. This happened every few months and that's why you get used to them,” says Serhiy Nuzhnenko, “I remember the day when Maxim Shapoval's car was blown up. I found out about the explosion in our reporter chat and went to the scene. The police were already working there. But I remembered one moment that struck me. Near the destroyed car, I saw a man sitting on his knees and crying bitterly, raising his hands to the sky. It was probably the father of the deceased.”

Recall that the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers has started a series of materials dedicated tokey events of the Russian war against Ukraine, where he publishes memoirs and photographs of Ukrainian documentary photographers.

Serhiy Nuzhnenko— reportage photographer. Photocorrespondent of Radio Svoboda since 2016. Since February 2022, he has become a war photographer: he filmed events in Kyiv, Chernihiv region, Kharkiv region, and now works mainly in Donbas. He is the author of photos from Bucha and Irpen, which Ukrposhta used in their stamps for the anniversary of the liberation of Kyiv region in March 2023. Serhiy Nuzhnenko's Works Completed the International Exhibition #OntheFrontlinesofTruth organized by the NGO “Institute of Mass Information” and the international organization in the field of independent media development Internews. The pictures were exhibited at the station in Vilnius. Also, Nuzhnenko's picture about Russian aggression in Ukraine was included in 100 photos of 2022 according to Time magazine. During the Revolution of Dignity, Nuzhnenko was one of the nine “Bankova prisoners”.

Photographer's social networks: Facebook Instagram

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