Zelenskyy vows response after assassination attempt on Khartiia commander

“I spoke with Khartiia commander Ihor Obolienskyi. There was an attempt on Ihor’s life today. The attacker and his accomplice have been detained. The required procedural steps are underway,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

Acting SBU chief Oleksandr Poklad briefed Zelenskyy on the assassination attempt.

“We will definitely respond to this attempted attack on Ukraine and a Ukrainian commander. I thanked Ihor for his service and hoped he would strike the occupiers even harder,” Zelenskyy wrote.

Zelenskyy awarded Obolienskyi the title of Hero of Ukraine on July 15. The president presented him with the Order of the Gold Star during ceremonies in central Kyiv marking Ukrainian Statehood Day.

In 2025, NV profiled Obolienskyi after he took command of the 2nd Khartiia Corps of Ukraine’s National Guard. The article described him as a career military officer who had fought in Donbas since 2014. In 2015, he helped establish the Rubizh Rapid Response Brigade and took command of its 1st Battalion. He later worked in agribusiness — first at the MHP holding company and then at Agrotrade.

Obolienskyi served in the Special Operations Forces during the first days of the full-scale invasion. He later accepted an invitation from agribusinessman Vsevolod Kozhemiako to join Khartiia, a volunteer unit established in Kharkiv. In early 2023, Khartiia was reorganized into the 13th Khartiia Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard. Obolienskyi became its commander and revamped the unit’s command and control system in line with NATO standards. In 2025, the General Staff decided to form a corps based on the Khartiia Brigade.