UKRAINE claims to have killed two Russian FSB agents suspected of assassinating the country’s special operations chief.

Colonel Ivan Voronich, head of an SBU intelligence Special Operations Centre, was killed instantly when an assassin armed with a pistol equipped with a silencer shot him in Kyiv.

Five shots were fired at him after he emerged from a residential block.

A man and a woman were then seen escaping from the scene.

The wanted woman was earlier named by the SBU – Ukraine’s secret service – as Narmin Guliyeva, 34.

But the man was not immediately identified by Ukrainian authorities.

The SBU released a statement saying: “This morning, a special operation was conducted, during which members of the agent-combat group of the FSB of the Russian Federation began to resist, so they were eliminated.”

“The murder of the Ukrainian defender was committed by two people – a man and a woman.

“Their supervisor ordered them to monitor the SBU officer, establish his daily schedule and routes.

“Later, the [Russian] handed over the coordinates of the cache to the killers, where there was a pistol with a silencer.”

Voronich is understood to have planned sensitive missions created to cripple Vladimir Putin’s war machine and embarrass the Russian tyrant.

His killer pumped five shots into his body before sprinting away.

Pro-Putin sources quickly boasted a Kremlin agent had assassinated the colonel for running secret operations behind Russian lines.

Putin is believed to have ordered retaliatory strikes following the embarrassment caused by the remarkable success of Operation Spiderweb in June, which resulted in the destruction of £5.2 billion worth of Russian warplanes.

Lieutenant General and Head of the Security Service of Ukraine said: “This morning, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) carried out the detention of an agent-combat group of the Russian FSB, who had been routed to Ukraine in advance, and three days ago committed the murder of SBU officer Colonel Ivan Voronych, our brave comrade.

“As a result of covert investigative and active counterintelligence operations, the enemy hideout was located, and this morning, active measures were taken to detain them.”

Voronych, 50, was gunned down and pronounced dead at the scene in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district.

Footage shows the moment he was killed as he carried bags from a residential building.

He was ambushed by the waiting gunman – who was masked – as a woman fled the scene. The assassin is then seen running away on video.

Voronich was a senior operative of the 1st Division of the 16th Directorate of the Special Operations Centre.

Ukrainian ex-MP Ihor Mosiychuk said: “As a result of the shooting, the victim sustained multiple penetrating gunshot wounds and died at the scene.”

Moscow news outlet Readovka said Voronych was part of an elite Ukrainian clandestine force which had carried out operations inside Russia.

Readovka said the unit “operates not only as a law enforcement entity but also takes part in highly sensitive operations on Russian territory”.

Another Russian outlet Voenkor Kotenok TG said the colonel had “founded a division that causes problems for Russia”.

Another pro-Putin propaganda channel boasted: “A fat target. Applause to the liquidators”.

Russian commentator Maksim Kalashnikov said: “In Kyiv, Colonel Voronich, one of the organisers of special operations against us, a chief saboteur, was shot dead.

“Our people have started working.”