Thread by @KimZetter

Car bomb that killed daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugin was smuggled into Russia in hidden compartment of a cat crate. The op was part of a raging shadow war being conducted by Ukraine's SBU spy agency, which has forged deep bonds with CIA since 2014
washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/…

"The cluttered car carrying a mother and her 12-year-old daughter seemed barely worth the attention of Russian security officials as it approached a border checkpoint. But the least conspicuous piece of luggage — a crate for a cat — was part of an elaborate, lethal plot."

Since 2015, CIA has spent millions to transform Ukraine’s intel services into allies against Putin. It's provided advanced surveillance systems, trained recruits in Ukraine/US, built a new headquarters for Ukraine's military intel agency, and shared unprecedented amounts of intel

Ukraine's SBU and GUR have assassinated "Russian officials in occupied territories, alleged Ukrainian collaborators, military officers behind the front lines and prominent war supporters deep inside Russia" including a former Russian submarine commander jogging in a Russian park

"Ukraine’s affinity for lethal operations has complicated its collaboration with the CIA, raising concerns about agency complicity...Even those who see such lethal missions as defensible in wartime question...decisions that led to the targeting of civilians"

“We have too many enemies who are more important to neutralize,” said a high-ranking Ukraine security official. “People who launch missiles. People who committed atrocities in Bucha.” Killing the daughter of a pro-war firebrand is “very cynical,” the official said.

"Others cited broader concerns about Ukraine’s cutthroat tactics that may seem justified now...but could later prove difficult to rein in. 'We are seeing the birth of a set of intelligence services that are like Mossad in the 1970s,” said a former senior CIA official"

“If Ukraine’s intelligence operations become even bolder—targeting Russians in third countries, for example—you could imagine how that might cause rifts with partners and come into serious tension with Ukraine’s broader strategic goals,” including its desire to join NATO and EU