Ukrainian officials on Thursday said they tricked Russia into handing over half a million dollars to Kyiv after faking the assassination of one of Moscow’s most wanted enemies.
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the HUR, released a video appearing to indicate Denis Kapustin, or the “White Rex,” is still alive despite reportedly being killed in late December.
Moscow had issued a $500,000 bounty for Kapustin, known as a neo-Nazi Russian fighting on Ukraine’s behalf. On Dec. 27, it appeared Russia had achieved its objective to eliminate the militant after Kapustin was reported dead in an alleged drone strike on eastern Ukraine.
But HUR chief Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said in the new video that Ukraine had staged Kapustin’s assassination and collected the funds from Moscow.
“Mr. Denis, congratulations on your return to life. That is always a pleasure. I am glad that the money allocated for your assassination was used to support our struggle,” Budanov said.
Ukrainian officials said that as a “result of a comprehensive special” intelligence operation, Kapustin’s life “was preserved and the circle of individuals was identified: the masterminds within the Russian special services and the perpetrators” seeking to eliminate the anti-Putin militant.
The Russia-Ukraine war has now stretched on for nearly four years. Casualties have reached sweeping numbers, with some estimates placing deaths in Russia alone at 1 million by June of 2025.
President Donald Trump has made ending the war a major focus of his foreign policy agenda, holding meetings and phone calls with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the matter last month.
A peace deal is “very close,” Trump said following his meeting with Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 28, 2025.
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In a New Year’s address to his country late Wednesday night, Zelensky said a possible deal is “90% ready.”
“Ten percent remains … Those 10% contain, in fact, everything,” he added. “Those are the 10% that will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, how people will live.”