SBU foils attempt on Da Vinci Wolves commander: video
29 July 2025 14:02
Russia tried to eliminate the commander of the 108th separate battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine “Da Vinci Wolves” Serhiy Filimonov. This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
“According to the case file, the attempt on his life was prepared by the FSB. To commit the crime, the Russian special service recruited a resident of Dnipropetrovs’k region under the guise of working for the SBU,” the press release said.
False flag operations are a fairly new tactic for the Russian intelligence service, the SBU noted. During recruitment talks, FSB representatives pose as SBU officers and set tasks for agents allegedly in the interests of Ukraine.
This is exactly how an ATO participant from Kamianske fell for the “hook”, who was convinced that on behalf of the SBU he had to neutralize a corrector working for Russia, not a Ukrainian military commander.
“As the investigation established, the man received a call on one of the social networks from a representative of the Russian special service, who posed as an employee of the Security Service of Ukraine. During the conversation, she said that the online store where the defendant had previously ordered medicines was allegedly financing Russian troops. She used this fictitious information to accuse the Ukrainian of “high treason” and informed him about the alleged criminal case against him,” the SBU said.
In order to increase psychological pressure, FSB representatives sent the man a fake summons for interrogation to the SBU. After that, he was offered allegedly to cooperate with the service in exchange for closing the criminal case. To do this, the defendant was sent a questionnaire about admission to the SBU and instructed to come to Kyiv.
“The FSB curators manipulated the patriotic beliefs of the Ukrainian, who sincerely believed that he was helping the Ukrainian special service fight the enemy. In his correspondence with his contact, the man expressed his readiness to destroy the occupiers – even at the cost of his own life,” the press release continues.
Upon arrival in Kyiv, the recruit was given the task of renting an apartment in a residential complex where, according to the FSB, the Ukrainian military commander who was to be eliminated lived, and to start surveillance of Serhiy Filimonov’s car.
At the same time, the FSB officer presented the Ukrainian military officer as a “traitor” who was allegedly launching strikes against Kyiv. After one of the massive missile strikes on the capital, the curator convinced the suspect that the “object” he was monitoring was responsible for it.
The recruit regularly sent the curator photo reports on visual surveillance: photos from the yard of the house and a description of the military’s movements. Subsequently, the FSB handler gave the suspect the coordinates of a cache on the outskirts of Kyiv, where the automatic weapon was hidden. After receiving the Kalashnikov, the man continued surveillance and later received instructions to eliminate the Ukrainian soldier.
SBU operatives detained the recruit when he was going outside with the weapon. During the search, they seized his cell phone, from which the suspect was corresponding with his FSB supervisor.
The detainee was served a notice of suspicion for illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
The SBU emphasized that their representatives do not recruit people by phone, do not offer to perform illegal actions, and do not set dubious tasks.
The Prosecutor General’s Office clarified that the recruit was given the coordinates of a cache with an AK-74 rifle on the outskirts of Kyiv.
What is known about Serhiy Filimonov
Serhiy Filimonov is 30 years old. he became the head of the 108th separate assault battalion “Da Vinci Wolves” on February 6, 2024, after the battalion commander Dmytro Kotsyubailo (“Da Vinci”) was killed at the front. Prior to the war with Russia, Serhiy Filimonov was a member of the football fan movement of Dynamo Kyiv and one of the leaders of the Rodychi fan group.
Filimonov played the lead role in the film Rhino (2021) by Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov. He is also one of the founders of the Honor movement, a former head of the Kyiv branch of the Azov Civil Corps and the Kyiv branch of the National Corps party.
