{"id":668968,"date":"2026-01-02T12:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T12:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/668968\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T12:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T12:43:12","slug":"kapustin-alive-after-foiled-russian-hit-plot-ukraines-hur-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/668968\/","title":{"rendered":"Kapustin Alive After Foiled Russian Hit Plot, Ukraine\u2019s HUR Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Ukrainian military\u2019s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) helped Denis Kapustin, the founder of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) who was announced dead last week, to fake his death before claiming the bounty placed on his head by Russian security services, it said on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Kapustin, 41, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kyivpost.com\/post\/67022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">previously reported killed<\/a> by a Russian drone while carrying out a combat mission in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region overnight on Saturday, Dec. 27. His <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UhyAr1VA4jI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RDK is a force of Russians fighting alongside Ukrainians<\/a> to overthrow the Putin regime.<\/p>\n<p>JOIN US ON TELEGRAM<\/p>\n<p>Follow our coverage of the war on the <a class=\"inarticle_link\" href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/Kyivpost_official\" target=\"_blank\">@Kyivpost_official<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On Jan. 1, HUR said in a post on Telegram that a Russian special service operation ordering his murder, which had allocated a $500,000 bounty to carry out the crime, had successfully been foiled.<\/p>\n<p>It added that it had procured the sum offered to \u201cliquidate\u201d Kapustin by Russia and this money would be used to strengthen Ukrainian drone capabilities against Russian forces.<\/p>\n<p>HUR said that the murder of Kapustin \u2013 considered a \u201cpersonal enemy\u201d by Russian President Vladimir Putin \u2013 had been \u201ccommissioned by the special services of the aggressor state Russia, which allocated half a million dollars to carry out the crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It added that a special operation lasting more than a month had successfully duped Russian intelligence services into believing that Kapustin was dead.<\/p>\n<p>The circle of people involved has been identified, including the instigators within Russian special services and the executors, HUR said.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a class=\"col-10 col-sm-3 block-insert-image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kyivpost.com\/post\/67270\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/p>\n<p>                                <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"img-fluid post-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1647ce5cb7643b6f9cac70becece8e20.jpg\" alt=\"2026: Defending Eastern Europe as a Post-American Era Dawns\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Other Topics of Interest<\/p>\n<p>                                <a class=\"title-a\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kyivpost.com\/post\/67270\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2026: Defending Eastern Europe as a Post-American Era Dawns<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The new year will be about adjusting to the realities of US retrenchment.<\/p>\n<p>A corresponding clip showed a briefing to the head of HUR Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov by the commander of the Tymur Special Operations Detachment, an elite unit of forces within military intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur side also obtained the corresponding amount of funds allocated by Russian special services to carry out this crime. As of now, the RDK commander is on the territory of Ukraine and is preparing to continue carrying out assigned tasks,\u201d the Tymur unit stated.<\/p>\n<p>Budanov congratulated Kapustin on his \u201creturn to life,\u201d saying: \u201cI am glad that the funds obtained for ordering your liquidation have gone to support our struggle. I wish us all and you personally success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy temporary absence did not affect the quality or success of the execution of combat tasks. I am ready to move to the area of operations and continue commanding the RDK unit,\u201d Kapustin said.<\/p>\n<p>Kapustin, also known by the name Denis Nikitin and the nom-de-guerre WhiteRex, founded the far-right RDK at the outset of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most prominent anti-Kremlin Russians fighting in Ukraine, Kapustin is a controversial figure. His far-right activities led to a 10-year ban from the Schengen zone in 2019, though Bellingcat researchers told the Financial Times in 2023 that he had remained active across Germany, France, Bulgaria and more.<\/p>\n<p>A Russian citizen, he had moved to Germany with his family in the early 2000s, where he associated with a group of violent soccer fans. Later, he became \u201cone of the most influential activists\u201d in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/7kbpxq\/neo-nazi-fight-clubs-how-the-far-right-uses-mma-to-spread-hate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">neo-Nazi splinter group in the mixed-martial-arts scene<\/a>, officials in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia have said.<\/p>\n<p>The RDK, the largest of the Russian anti-Putin militias fighting on the side of Ukraine, is subordinate to HUR and is one of the various units within the HUR\u2019s International Legion.<\/p>\n<p>The RDK mounted cross-border operations into Russia\u2019s Belgorod and Kursk regions in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n<p>On Dec. 27, the RDK announced his \u201cdeath\u201d on Telegram, writing: \u201cWe will definitely take revenge, Denis. Your legacy lives on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ukrainian military\u2019s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) helped Denis Kapustin, the founder of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-668968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115825567712439525","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}