Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) announced during the hour ending 2:15 AM UTC on January 2, 2026, that Denis Kapustin, head of the Russian Volunteer Corps, remains alive after his death was faked in a counterintelligence operation to deceive Russian special forces and claim a $500,000 bounty, as reported by AMK Mapping citing the GUR statement. The GUR stated the operation prevented Kapustin's assassination by tricking Russian forces into paying the prize money allocated for his killing, with the funds now directed to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces. AMK Mapping detailed the announcement occurred over the past hour. Separately, a court arrested Alexander Zinchenko, deputy head of Zaporozhye, on charges of particularly large-scale fraud, according to documents reviewed by the TASS news agency during the same period. These developments follow Ukrainian Air Force detections of drones over multiple regions including Zaporizhzhia in the prior hour ending 12:45 AM UTC, as previously reported.
