Russian Mercenary Targets Ukrainian Artist in Warsaw

A mercenary accused of working on behalf of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) was preparing to assassinate Ukrainian rapper and video blogger Slevin Dadyan, known by his stage name Kyivstoner, in Warsaw, Poland.The suspect, a 29-year-old man from Donbas, was arrested by the police on Aug. 7, near Warsaw’s Wołoska Street. According to the Polish radio station RMF24, Warsaw police worked with Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) to uncover and halt the plot.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.“Unfortunately, we must proceed from the assumption that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s regime will attempt to eliminate people who are inconvenient for various reasons, in various parts of the world,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday, Aug. 13.Targeted over alleged drone smugglingSlevin Dadyan, whose real name is Albert Vasilyev, was accused by the FSB for overseeing the logistics of a drone smuggling plot that targeted a defense enterprise in the Moscow region.According to The Moscow Times citing FSB, the plot involved a network of recruited operatives, including a former Wagner mercenary and Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), to smuggle 35 first-person-view drones into Russia.Vasilyev denied the allegations on social media. “I’m chilling and playing Dota,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “What organization are you talking about?”The drones were allegedly smuggled through Slovakia, Poland and Belarus into the Moscow region, prompting the FSB to put the artist on its list of individuals involved in “extremist” and “terrorist” activities. Other Topics of Interest Zelensky Struggles to Find Ukraine’s Next Envoy to Trump Zelensky is struggling to find a senior candidate to represent Ukraine in Washington as Kyiv faces critical decisions on weapons and peace talks. According to Russian authorities cited by The Moscow Times, the explosives were stored in a rented warehouse which stored building materials near the target site.A warehouse tenant, who was also accused by FSB of being recruited by Ukraine for payment, was killed during an attempted arrest.Victim’s identity revealed a day laterAccording to Tusk on Thursday, the attack marks “the first such situation in which someone on behalf of Russia decides to attack an American citizen in another NATO country, specifically on the territory of Poland.”He added that he is not “authorized to disclose names.”RMF24 confirmed the victim’s identity on Friday.Vasilyev built his online following through comedic sketch videos and had previously been a part of a Ukrainian music band named “Hryby,” before pursuing a solo career under his current stage name, Kyivstoner, Mezha reported.He lived in Russia before relocating to Kyiv for several months shortly before the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, at which point he left for the US – a move he attributed partly to his American citizenship.He reportedly provides financial support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).Past remarks sparked public criticismMezha reported that Vasilyev drew public criticism after telling a Russian blogger Yuri Dud that he viewed the practices of Ukraine’s military conscription offices as “lawlessness,” while proposing that Kyiv instead offer men larger cash incentives to enlist – similar to Russia’s approach.In the same interview held in September 2025, Vasilyev also said that he had no interest in speaking Ukrainian and voiced skepticism that Ukraine could realistically restore its 1991 borders, dismissing the idea as “fantasy.”He, however, publicly condemns Russia’s war against Ukraine.Vasilyev has also appeared in films, and collaborated with a Russian rapper Vasiliy Vakulenko, known as Basta, during his time in Moscow.Part of a wider patternTusk described the plot as part of a broader hybrid campaign Russia is waging against Western nations supporting Ukraine, adding that Polish authorities are preparing for similar attempts in the future.The Warsaw plot follows a similar case in June, when a Georgian citizen shot and killed a Russian government critic in Biała Podlaska, a town in the Lublin Voivodeship.The victim, a cartoonist and satirist who went by the name Semyon Skrepetsky, mocked Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov in his work.According to the EU Commissioner for Defense Andrius Kubilius, Skrepetsky’s death should serve as a warning to Europe, with more shocks to follow if the 27 member states do not take Russian threats more seriously. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.