Ukrainian YouTuber Scares the Kremlin: Another Failed Attempt to kill Sternenko
Russia, a country where high-ranking generals get blown up in their own capital, just tried to assassinate a Ukrainian blogger. Yes, not a general, not a politician but a blogger.
The target was Serhii Sternenko, a well-known activist from Odesa, volunteer, lawyer, head of a charity foundation, and YouTuber with over 2 million subscribers.
According to Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), the attacker was a woman acting on orders from Russian handlers. She was detained at the scene after opening fire on Sternenko outside his residential building. He sustained a gunshot wound but later confirmed on Telegram that his life wasn’t in danger, crediting the SBU:
“If not for SBU, I wouldn’t be able to write anything anymore.”
Investigators say the woman, born in the Odesa region and living in Kyiv, had rented an apartment in Sternenko’s building weeks earlier. She had studied his routine in detail. Every move she made was backed and sponsored by Russia’s FSB.
Surveillance footage released by Ukrainian media shows her waiting near the building entrance and firing as Sternenko stepped outside.
This is the fourth failed assassination attempt on his life — all linked to Russia, with the previous ones carried out in Odesa
His survival, and refusal to be silenced, is exactly why he gained such a large following. Today, his channel is a daily dose of truth and morale for millions of Ukrainians during lunch breaks.
But this isn’t just about one voice. Russia has long targeted journalists and truth-tellers—from investigative reporters to frontline documentarians. Ukrainian and even international journalists have been kidnapped, tortured, and murdered. Recently, the body of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna was returned with her eyes, trachea, and other organs missing.
Back in August 2024, FSB chief Bortnikov discussed with Putin the “need to silence” Ukrainian bloggers and public voices. The Kremlin’s strategy is crystal clear: suppress freedom of speech not just in Russia, but in Ukraine too.
