MOSCOW: Russia's FSB security service said on Tuesday it shot dead a Ukrainian agent who attempted to plant explosives under the car of a senior defence industry official.

The suspect, whom it did not name, allegedly worked for Ukraine's GUR intelligence agency and targeted a "senior employee of a defence enterprise in the Sverdlovsk region", the FSB said.

He was detained while "placing an improvised explosive device in a hiding place, put up armed resistance and was neutralised by return fire," the FSB added.

A pistol with ammunition was found at the scene, while law enforcement seized components used for making explosives during a search of his residence, it continued.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

Ukraine has often targeted Russian officials it believes are complicit in the Kremlin's full-scale military assault on its territory, which began in 2022.

In December 2023, pro-Russian Ukrainian defector Illia Kyva was shot dead near Moscow in an attack claimed by Kyiv's security services.

  - AFP