A high-ranking representative of the special services opposed the European choice of his homeland.
Former head of the operational documentation department of the Security Service of Ukraine, Major General Volodymyr Lyapkin, who switched sides to Russia after Euromaidan, has died. This was reported by former people's deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, now pro-Kremlin propagandist Oleg Tsarev. "Volodya died in the special military operation, he served in 'Bars-33'... His call sign was 'Baty'", he wrote on social media.
The circumstances of his death are not specified. The death of 59-year-old Lyapkin was independently confirmed by Mediazona. According to their information, a former Emergencies Ministry employee from the Moscow region, Colonel Eduard Malov, was also killed alongside him. Both graduated from the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School in 1989.
According to Tsarev, during his work at the SBU, Lyapkin's area of responsibility included wiretapping, external surveillance, and information gathering. He was promoted to the rank of major general in 2013 and personally participated in the dispersal of Euromaidan at that time. "During the most acute moments of the protests, he had to engage in direct physical confrontations, and in such situations, he did not hide behind the backs of his subordinates but went forward himself, setting an example," Tsarev stated.
After the change of power in Ukraine, Lyapkin was dismissed from the SBU, then he fled to Russia and settled in the annexed Crimea. In 2021, he established the Association 'I Guarantee Quality', which was engaged in monitoring nutrition in schools.
With the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Lyapkin was appointed deputy head of the 'security service' of the occupied part of the Kherson region. The structure was founded by his former boss, Oleksandr Yakymenko, who also fled to Russia. In 2025, the SBU informed Lyapkin of suspicion of collaborationism. According to the service, he participated in 'filtering activities' and repressions against the civilian population.
The SBU believes that after the liquidation of the 'security service', its successor became the FSB department for the occupied Kherson region. Tsarev claims that Lyapkin's rank 'de facto remained: he continued to be a major general of the Russian special services for everyone'. There is no official confirmation of this.
