I knew the assassinated Russian nuke collaborator
Oleksandr Seliverstov once worked side-by-side with a collaborator at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. This week, the collaborator was killed in a fiery explosion.
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When Oleksandr Seliverstov heard about his former colleague’s death, he had an unusual reaction:
“I was very pleasantly surprised,” he said. “It was good news. Well, he deserved it.”
This isn’t your regular office rivalry.
You see, Oleksandr had once worked closely with the man, Andrii Korotkyy, at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Three days ago, at 7 a.m., Korotkyy met a fiery end, likely assassinated by Ukrainian intelligence. A video of his death, published by Ukrainian military intelligence, also known as GUR, shows Andrii’s car exploding in the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar.
Warning: Viewer discretion is advised. The video of the killing of Andrii Korotkyy, published by GUR, shows an exploding car.
The Russian side said that he died of his wounds.
"This is a terrible, inhuman act of terrorism. Those who committed it must be punished. An attack on workers who ensure the safety of a nuclear facility is a reckless, outrageous step," said Yuriy Chernychuk, the Russian-appointed director of the Zaporizhzhya NPP.
Oleksandr had a very different view.
“A lot of decent people suffered because of scum like him—people who were innocent, just pro-Ukrainian. And he handed them over, leading to their torture and suffering,” Oleksandr told The Counteoffensive.
Let’s back up: after the seizure of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in March 2022 by Russian occupiers, Andrii Korotkyy betrayed Ukraine.
As a member of the nuclear plant’s security team, he voluntarily began to cooperate with Russian troops, handing over pro-Ukrainian citizens for torture by the Russians, according to Olekastandr.
Since then, Russia has systematically used the ZNPP for nuclear blackmail, threatening not only Ukraine but also European energy security. With its largest nuclear plant in Russian hands, Ukraine has suffered from severe energy shortfalls this year, and is expected to endure widespread outages this coming winter.
The plant’s operation is now facilitated by some 2,700 collaborators who have signed contracts with the occupying authorities.
The apparent strike by Ukrainian intelligence to kill the collaborator is not only a form of wartime justice, but also a message to other collaborators: ‘we will not forget.’
Oleksandr Seliverstov knew the assassinated man like few others. Before the war began, Andrii Korotkyy was his colleague, a security guard who monitored who came and went at the ZNPP.
“You might be surprised to hear this, but he was actually a nice guy. He cooperated fully with our team, always giving us a heads-up like 'someone's coming your way' because he had access to all the surveillance systems. He seemed like such a decent person,” Oleksandr said.
When the Russians seized the nuclear power plant, workers were brought in to replace those who had been forced to work 28 hours straight due to the invasion.
Oleksandr was among those who came to replace that initial shift.
What he saw surprised him: Andrii was in the front, meeting all the staff at the entrance:
“Everything's fine, don't worry, show your passes, put your head down and go through,” the man shouted to the workers.
He made no mention of the fact that there were already Russians on the territory of the station.
“At that moment, I couldn’t understand what the hell he was even doing there… Later, I found out he had started cooperating with the Russians,” Oleksandr said to The Counteroffensive.
Andrii was not the only one who collaborated with the enemy. It turned out that approximately 90 percent of the employees of the Physical Protection Service were traitors. According to Oleksandr, this structure at the ZNPP consisted of former security officers, i.e. the SBU, the professional military.
After the occupation of ZNPP, Andrii Korotkyy became the head of the plant’s Physical Protection Service. As a result, he had all the information about the plant's employees.
He had access to questionnaires and classified data: who was born where, who had relatives where. And Korotkyy passed all this information onto the Russians. They knew everything about the Ukrainians in Enerhodar, where the nuclear power plant is located.
This information made it easier for the Russians to put pressure on ZNPP workers to stay in the city, sign contracts with the Russians, and help keep the plant running.
“Korotkyy took part in the repression of the NPP staff and war crimes against civilians in the temporarily-occupied Enerhodar," said the Ukrainian intelligence service, known as the GUR.
In addition, according to GUR, Andrii Korotkyy constantly organized events in support of the Russian occupying authorities. He was a member of Putin's United Russia party, heading the so-called 'council of deputies' in Enerhodar.
The Ukrainian spy services, with the long-term support of the CIA, have become a powerful force in the confrontation with Russia. Since Russia first seized Ukrainian territory in 2014, Ukraine has developed elite intelligence units in close partnership with the CIA.
According to the Washington Post, over the past 20 months the SBU and its military counterpart, the GUR, have carried out dozens of assassinations of Russian officials in the occupied territories: suspected Ukrainian collaborators, officers behind the front lines and vocal supporters of the war deep inside Russia.
As of October 2024, since the start of the full-scale invasion, the SBU has uncovered more than 6,000 collaborators. Some of them are under investigation on Ukrainian territory, others are still at large. Others have been targeted and assassinated.
Korotkyy likely experienced this firsthand.
The GUR has not directly confirmed whether the collaborator's death was the result of their work, even though they posted the video of the blown-up car. However, the Ukrainian spy services stated that Korotkyy's death reminded that "every war criminal will face a just retribution."
NEWS OF THE DAY:
Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
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The Dutch have become one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters, having endured the trauma of the Russian-backed shootdown of the commercial airliner MH-17 in July 2014. The flight took off from Amsterdam, killing more than 193 Dutch citizens.
SLOVAK PM PLEDGES TO BLOCK UKRAINE NATO MEMBERSHIP: PM Robert Fico has said that having Ukraine join NATO would trigger a world war, and that "as long as I am Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic... I will ensure that [my party's MPs] never agree to Ukraine's NATO membership." Joining NATO requires the approval of all of the alliance's member states. He did not object to Ukraine's EU membership, however, but added that this would not take place for "several years."
Fico has pledged to restore relations with Russia if the war ends, and is keen to persuade Ukraine to remain a transit point for Russian gas, Politico reports.
RUSSIAN ACTIVIST KILLED FIGHTING FOR UKRAINE: Ildar Dadin, a Russian opposition activist, has been killed in action while supporting Ukrainian troops, reports the BBC. A spokesperson for the Ukrainian group which recruited him said that "he was, and remains, a hero." He was in the Freedom of Russia Legion, a volunteer battalion, when his group came under artillery fire in the Kharkiv region.
He became known in Russia in the last decade as he staged peaceful protests in that country.
DOG OF WAR
Today we have not just one dog of war, but five adorable puppies that Nastia found on her way to the office.
Stay safe out there.
Best,
Mariana
Zaporizhzihia remains the end-game hostage for Putin. Let's assume the Ukrainians drop the Kersch Bridge, or really maul the strategic Russian bomber force, or pull off another of their many firsts that undermine the Russians in a more fundamental way: then Putin will likely take action to repeat Chernobyl in some way by sabotage at the Zaporizhzihia facility. Of course, Putin will have a disinformation campaign of a very skilled nature ready to blame Ukraine for causing his catastrophe. it. It will be a provocation of monumental proportions but not inconsistent with KGB practices. This will immediately lead to the ultimate crisis of this conflict, when it becomes publicly clear that the US, UK and French need to take some significantly greater action to signal Putin and Russia to stop.
It was the Chernobyl disaster, and Soviet lies about it, that ultimately destroyed the failing edifice of the USSR--and so it may again be active sabotage of a Zap reactor that makes it impossible for the Western democracies to continue 'business as usual'. Count on Orban, and the other Putin acolytes to decry the problem and call for an end to the war on Russian terms. No doubt PRC will sell radiation suits at a nasty markup to benefit from its Russian ally's actions.
Great post today, team. Thank you! Fico's position on gas transit through Ukraine is absurd. Zelensky can simply say: No NATO, no gas. Why should a Russia supporter expect anything for free from Ukraine? Fico must have attended the Trump University College of Dealmaking--and flunked out. Slava Ukraini!