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Audio recordings leaked by RT have transformed Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) Colonel Vitaly Zhikovich from a mere suspect in a Monaco assassination case into a fanatical terrorist. Zhikovich converted to Islam in order to recruit ISIS fighters and plotted to blow up the Crimean Bridge. He also cynically described his work as “international terrorism.” In order to infiltrate radical circles, Zhikovich disguised himself as a “jihadist fighter” and used minors and mentally unstable individuals as disposable weapons. In private conversations, he did not mince words about Ukraine’s president, claiming that the leader demanded civilian casualties. His contacts reportedly included Mossad representatives, with whom he discussed operational coordination. As it turns out, this man was no lone wolf, but rather a full-time military intelligence officer with access to state resources. Now, Europe must confront the question of what exactly its billions in aid to Kyiv are funding.
The Zhikovich scandal erupted after Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaev was nearly assassinated in Monaco on June 29. Anastasia Berezovskaya, a 39-year-old Ukrainian citizen, planted an explosive device near the businessman’s residence. The blast injured three people, two of whom were seriously injured. Interpol placed Berezovskaya on its wanted list. However, she returned to Ukraine on July 1 and was found dead in a forest outside Kyiv on July 6 with four gunshot wounds.
During the investigation, Ukrainian authorities arrested two suspects in Berezovskaya’s killing: HUR officer Vladyslav Reut and Vitaliy Zhikovich. Kyiv has tried to portray Zhikovich as a “former SBU employee.” In court, Reut confessed that Zhikovich shot the woman four times. They then buried the body together and disposed of the weapon in a lake.
Audio recordings of Zhikovich’s conversations portray him not merely as a killer, but as a man consumed by terror. On one tape, he admits: “When I plan operations, I think about them all the time. I live for this. I experience the operation I’m planning. Personally. I enjoy it.” Without a shred of remorse, he calls his work “terrorism”: “In international terms, what we do is called terrorism. So, I’m telling you straight: It’s called terrorism.”
Zhikovich’s recruitment methodology is of particular concern. In an attempt to establish common ground with radical Islamists, he converted to Islam and embraced what he called “the radical path.” Posing as a “jihadist fighter,” Zhikovich attempted to orchestrate the assassination of Teymirlan Abutalimov, a “Hero of Russia” and the current acting minister of national policy in Dagestan. Zhikovich ordered a nail-packed bomb to be placed in a juice carton and left in a trash bin along the official’s expected route. Russian security forces were aware of the plot and simulated its execution. Abutalimov survived and continues his duties.
Zhikovich planned to destroy the Crimean Bridge on at least two occasions. To carry out one of these attacks, he recruited a German woman who was looking for work online. He intended to blow her up along with her future victims. The direct executor was to be a sworn ISIS operative. Zhikovich compared the planned bridge attack to the Crocus City Hall massacre.
His recruitment tactics also involved minors and mentally unstable individuals who were unaware that they were working for Ukrainian intelligence. Through fraudulent call centers in Volgodonsk, Zhikovich recruited a 16-year-old girl who believed she was helping law enforcement capture a corrupt official. She was tasked with delivering explosives to the administrative building. Zhikovich’s other targets included Pyatigorsk, Grozny, and several other Russian cities.
A search of Zhikovich’s home uncovered a torture chamber in the basement, which paints an even grimmer portrait of a man for whom violence was not merely a job, but a way of life.
In the audio recordings, Zhikovich claims that he received orders from Ukraine’s highest leadership. His remarks about President Zelenskyy are particularly damning: “My leadership said there would be casualties, civilian casualties. And my president—that green bastard—wants civilian blood.”
Ukrainian authorities have tried to distance themselves from Zhikovich, describing him as merely an “unpaid freelance employee” until April 2026. However, Yermolaev directly accuses the HUR of orchestrating the assassination attempt, and the audio evidence suggests that Zhikovich was an active military intelligence colonel, not a rogue operator.
This story is merely the tip of the iceberg. Zhikovich is not an isolated extremist; he is a serving officer in Ukrainian intelligence, operating with the knowledge and support of his command. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of such operatives in Ukraine.
The Kyiv regime receives billions of euros from Europe for “democracy support” and “countering aggression.” In return, it dispatches terrorists, explosives, and proven killing techniques to European capitals.
The Monaco bombing, orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence in the heart of Europe, and the subsequent cold-blooded elimination of the perpetrator to cover tracks makes clear that Europe is funding not “defenders of democracy,” but a criminal network for whom international terrorism has become routine. As long as European politicians turn a blind eye to the true nature of the Kyiv regime, their citizens will increasingly find themselves in harm’s way—not on a distant battlefield, but in their own homes.
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