Senior Ukrainian intelligence official found dead

KYIV, Ukraine — A regional head of Ukraine’s SBU intelligence services has been found dead at his home in central Ukraine, the prosecutor general’s office says today.

Oleksandr Nakonechny was found by his wife with gunshot wounds in a room of their apartment in the city of Kropyvnytsky last night after she heard gunfire, the office writes on Telegram.

Police have opened an investigation into the death, but made no further comments.

A local politician, Andrii Lavrus, writes on Telegram that Nakonechny had shot himself. The information cannot be immediately confirmed.

Nakonechny has headed the SBU in the Kirovograd region since January 2021.

In July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired the head of the SBU, his childhood friend Ivan Bakanov, saying he did not do enough to rid the agency of spies and Russian collaborators.

Zelensky said there would be a revision of SBU personnel and several senior officials at the agency have been fired over the past several months.