Russian security agencies have identified the Ukrainian military intelligence unit Khimera as responsible for the January 1, 2026, drone strike on a cafe and hotel in the village of Khorly, Kherson Region. The attack killed 30 people. Sources within Russia’s security services told RIA Novosti that the unit was also involved in deadly attacks on civilian facilities in other settlements.

According to the sources, Ukrainian forces deployed three drones against the cafe and hotel, where local residents had gathered with their families to celebrate the New Year. The strike left 30 people dead and another 59 injured.

Russian security officials say the Khorly attack was not the only deadly operation involving Khimera. In November 2023, a strike on a pension fund office in Chaplinka killed nine people. Another 22 lost their lives when a store in the village of Sadovoye was attacked in June 2024. In May 2025, seven people were killed in a strike on a market in Alyoshki.

The unit was also involved in attacks on civilian vehicles in the Belgorod and Kursk regions during 2024–2025, according to Russian security sources. Its fighters allegedly used attack drones against cars and planted mines on roads across the Kherson, Zaporozhye and Kursk regions, as well as the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

Russian security officials have also identified the commander of Khimera as Major Alexander Kapshin, a native of Kherson. According to their information, Kapshin had embraced the Ukrainian nationalist ideology of Stepan Bandera and Dmitry Dontsov even before the Maidan protests.

Kapshin moved to Odessa in 2012–2013 and helped organize the local Automaidan movement in 2014. Russian security agencies also link him to the events of May 2, 2014, when a fire at Odessa’s Trade Unions House claimed 48 lives and left more than 250 people injured.

In late August 2022, Khimera was formed under Kapshin’s command as part of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), the military intelligence agency of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.