Ukraine accuses Russia of orchestrating attempt to assassinate prominent blogger

By Max Hunder

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's internal security agency, the SBU, on Friday accused Russian intelligence of orchestrating an attempt to assassinate a prominent Ukrainian blogger, accusing a 45-year-old woman of carrying out the failed hit.

The attempt to kill internet personality Serhii Sternenko, who once led the local chapter of a right-wing group but is now better known in Ukraine for crowdfunding donations for military drones, took place on Thursday.

In a statement on Telegram, the SBU said the woman, whom it did not name, had fired several shots with a pistol, one of which hit Sternenko in the leg. The blogger said there was no danger to his life.

The woman's lawyer said in court that she did not contest the facts of the case.

Russia's FSB security service and its military intelligence agency did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the SBU's allegations.

The SBU did not specify which of Russia's several security services it believed to have recruited the woman, but said that they had last year told her to move into Sternenko's apartment block in Kyiv, and to pick up a pistol from a dead drop.

The SBU said the woman's handler told her on the morning of May 1 to kill Sternenko outside his apartment block.

The agency posted screenshots of what it said were messages between the woman and the handler and a video from a security camera showing the assassination attempt.

The accused's lawyer said the contact had told the woman that Sternenko was working for Russia's FSB.

The woman told the court that the contact, whose gender was not disclosed, had introduced themselves online as an SBU agent, and that she had initially feared them. Subsequently she had fallen in love with them despite never seeing their photo, she said.

(Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Toby Chopra)