Major General Lyapkin, A Defector From The SBU, Died In The War With Ukraine

He defected to Russia after Euromaidan.

Major-General Vladymyr Lyapkin, the former head of the operational documentation department of the Security Service of Ukraine, who defected to Russia after Euromaidan, died on March 17. This was reported by the former people's Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, now pro-Kremlin propagandist Oleg Tsarev. "Volodya died on the SVO, served in the "Bars-33"... His call sign was "Batyi"," he wrote in social network.

The circumstances of death are not specified. The death of 59-year-old Lyapkin was independently confirmed by Mediazona. According to its data, Colonel Eduard Malov, a former EMERCOM officer from the Moscow region, was killed together with him. Both graduated from the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School in 1989.

Tsarev said that while working for the SBU, Lyapkin's area of responsibility included wiretapping, outdoor surveillance and information gathering. He was promoted to the rank of major general in 2013 and at that time he personally participated in the dispersal of Euromaidan. "In the most acute moments of the protests he had to engage in direct physical confrontations, and in such situations he did not hide behind the backs of his subordinates, but went forward himself, showing an example," Tsarev said.

After the change of power in Ukraine, Lyapkin was fired from the SBU, then he fled to Russia and settled in annexed Crimea. In 2021, he founded the "I Guarantee Quality" Association, which was in charge of controlling nutrition in schools.

When the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, Lyapkin was appointed deputy head of the "security service" of the occupied part of the Kherson region. The structure was established by his former boss Alexander Yakimenko, who also fled to Russia. In 2025, the SBU informed Lyapkin of suspicion of collaborationism. According to the service, he was involved in "filtration measures" and repression of civilians.

The SBU believes that after the "security service" was liquidated, its legal successor was the FSB directorate for the occupied Kherson region. Tsarev claims that Lyapkin's "de facto rank was preserved: he remained a major-general of the Russian security services for everyone." There is no official confirmation of this.

It was reported earlier that at least 21 Russian generals have been killed since the start of the war against Ukraine. On March 31, Lieutenant General Alexander Otroschenko, who had commanded the mixed aviation corps of the Northern Fleet since 2024, crashed in an An-26 military transport plane.

April 2, it became known about the death of General Andrey Averyanov of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), who was responsible for sabotage and assassinations abroad. He died in December 2025 as a result of an attack on the Russian "shadow fleet" tanker Qendil.

You can support the website Charter97.org

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail [email protected]