‘I was intimidated, and then I fell in love’ A Ukrainian woman describes how a likely Russian agent duped her into an attempt on the life of former Right Sector activist Serhii Sternenko
Ukrainian blogger and volunteer Serhii Sternenko, the former head of the Odesa branch of the nationalist group Right Sector, said on Thursday that someone tried to kill him. Sternenko, who’s been raising money for drones for the Ukrainian Armed Forces since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, wrote on his Telegram channel on May 1: “I’ve been attacked. Wounded.” Two minutes later, he followed up with another post: “All good, no threat to life.” He later reported that the attacker, a woman, had been apprehended.
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has confirmed the attack, stating that its officers had thwarted the assassination of Sternenko, who was assaulted with a firearm. The agency also released a photo of the suspect in custody: a woman shown kneeling against a wall, wearing a dark pink tracksuit, her face obscured by the hem of her top, and holding a rose-colored purse.
Later that day, Sternenko said he had undergone surgery. “The bullet went clean through. Didn’t hit anything important,” he wrote, thanking the SBU for “literally saving” his life.
The news outlet Ukrainska Pravda obtained surveillance footage of the attack from law enforcement sources. The video shows a black car with tinted windows parked outside an apartment building, with a woman standing directly across from it near the entrance, apparently waiting for her target. Three men emerge from the building and head toward the car; the woman raises a weapon and opens fire on them. One of the men runs up to her, grabs her arms, and tackles her to the ground.
Sources familiar with the investigation told Ukrainska Pravda that the attacker is a native of Odesa, age 45. A Russian intelligence agency allegedly transferred her money, and she then rented an apartment on April 15 near Serhii Sternenko’s home in Kyiv to begin surveilling him.
On May 2, a day after the shooting, the woman was formally charged. Ukraine’s Security Service confirmed the suspect’s age and hometown. According to the agency, Russian intelligence recruited her in late 2024 when she was looking online for ways to “earn quick money.” Initially, under the guidance of her handlers, she surveilled specific vehicles and photographed them. Later, she was instructed to assemble a homemade explosive device and relocate to central Kyiv. Finally, she received coordinates for a location where a pistol had been hidden. On the morning of May 1, she was directed to kill Sternenko outside his home. The bullet struck him in the leg, according to the SBU press release.
At her arraignment hearing in Kyiv, the woman’s lawyer, Anatolii Yurchenko, said his client had confessed and was willing to cooperate with investigators. In response to questions from reporters at the hearing, the woman said she didn’t know Sternenko.
According to the news outlet Graty, the suspect’s name is Liudmyla Chumerska. The television network Suspilne reported that she is unemployed, has a disability, and — according to her lawyer — requires dialysis.
At the hearing, Chumerska’s attorney stated that the suggestion to kill Sternenko came from “a person [his client] completely trusted.” The lawyer said this person claimed that Sternenko was working for Russia’s Federal Security Service and coordinating Russian strikes on Kyiv. Chumerska herself said the person she was messaging claimed to be an SBU officer. She insisted that she fell in love with him, though they never met. “At first, I was intimidated, and then I fell in love with this person. But I never saw a photo. We talked on Viber; I fell in love with the words,” Chumerska said. The court remanded her into custody for two months on attempted murder charges.
Sternenko linked the assassination attempt against him to the killings of linguist and politician Iryna Farion in July 2024 and former Right Sector member Demian Hanul in March 2025. Sternenko said he believes Russian intelligence is behind the attack and suggested that the attempt on his life may have been timed to coincide with the anniversary of the May 2014 Trade Unions Building Fire in Odesa, when armed clashes left 46 pro-Russian “Anti-Maidan” activists and two pro-Ukrainian “Euromaidan” protesters dead.
