The Incident
At approximately 0600 EST, initial reports indicated that a man had been injured in an explosion in Zapadnoye Degunin District of Moscow, Russian Federation. Initial reports found that one person had been injured and two additional vehicles had been damaged when a single SUV had exploded. Pro-Russian sources were also initially reporting that an underground gas pipeline had burst at the scene, causing the explosion.
However, by 0730 EST, the identity of the victim was reported by Readovkanews which revealed that Vasily Prozorov, a former employee of the SBU of Ukraine suffered injuries to his extremities and shock as a result of the explosion. An investigation has been launched, but no attribution has been assigned to the attack as of this publication.
The Defector
Prozorov currently runs the TG channel UKR Leaks. According to Pro-Russian sources, Prozorov was the target of a foiled assassination attempt in Berdyansk in 2023 in which attackers also attempted to plant an explosive device comprising of “an explosive device with a capacity of one kilogram of TNT with destructive elements, three VOG ammunition, two F1 grenades, one RGO grenade.”
Prozorov was a Lieutenant Colonel in the SBU and worked there from 1988 to 2018. When he defected, he immediately provided the Russian government with information relating to Ukrainian cooperation with Western intelligence, especially the CIA. He also accused the Ukrainian government of shooting down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17.
His first appearance in Russian media was March 25th, 2019 in which he chaired a press conference on the same day that Ukraine honors its intelligence services. There he decried the Ukrainian government and revealed his identity:
“My name is Prozorov Vasyl Nikolayevich. Between 1999 and 2018 I was an employee of the SBU. As of May 2014, I worked in the Central Apparatus, specifically in the headquarters of the SBU’s Anti-Terrorist Center. As of April 2014, absolutely voluntarily and for ideological motives, I collaborated with the Russian intelligence services, obtaining information on the activity of the Ukrainian security organizations, especially in the region where the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) was being carried out.”
When Russian invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Prozorov was spotted in Mariupol taking down a sign at an Azov base, bragging that “I’ve waited a long time for this.”
The SBU branded Prozorov as a traitor and a modern-day Judas in a Facebook post in 2019:
“Vasyl Prozorov was fired from his position as senior expert consultant in a department of the SBU’s Anti-Terrorist Center headquarters due to unsuitability for duty – systematic abuse of alcohol at the workplace and discrediting the officer’s rank. Having squandered his officer’s dignity on drink, Prozorov decided to trade in his conscience and military oath by finding ‘worthy’ people in Russia’s FSB.”
