National Police dismisses Lieutenant Colonel Dronov following investigation into attempt on Sternenko's life

Disciplinary measures against patrol police leadership

The National Police of Ukraine has completed an internal investigation, as a result of which Police Lieutenant Colonel Mykhailo Dronov was dismissed from service. This decision was the outcome of a review of a potential breach of service discipline related to the attempt on the life of volunteer and blogger Serhiy Sternenko.

As stated in the official statement by the National Police: “As a result of the internal investigation… disciplinary action in the form of dismissal from police service has been applied to Police Lieutenant Colonel Mykhailo Dronov” (As a result of the internal investigation… disciplinary action in the form of dismissal from police service has been applied to Police Lieutenant Colonel Mykhailo Dronov).

Timeline of the investigation and the role of the SBU

The review procedure regarding Dronov began on 8 May of last year. This date corresponds to the period seven days after the incident involving the attempt on Sternenko. The initiator was the Main Investigative Department of the SBU, which sent the relevant information to the Kyiv Patrol Police Directorate.

The focus of the investigators was the potential breach of discipline by Dronov and other officers of the Kyiv patrol police. Andriy Shvets, head of the Main Investigative Department of the SBU, previously disclosed details of the case, noting that a police officer was involved in one of the attempts on the volunteer. According to him, the law enforcement officer used the “Safe City” urban video surveillance system to collect and transmit data on the blogger's location.

Details of the criminal proceedings

In 2025, Mykhailo Dronov held the position of senior inspector in the search and processing of road traffic accident materials department of the Kyiv Patrol Police Directorate. According to the official response to the request, the dismissal took place on 4 July 2025.

The Internal Security Department of the NPU participated in the operational support of the criminal proceedings, details of which were entered into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations by an investigator of the Main Investigative Department of the SBU. The criminality of the actions was qualified under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, specifically:

• Part 2 of Article 111 (treason);
• Part 1 of Article 15, and points 6, 11 and 12 of Part 2 of Article 115 (attempt to commit intentional murder).

Charge against another law enforcement officer

Within the same proceedings, another police officer was charged under two other articles. He is accused of:

• Part 2 of Article 361-2 (unauthorised sale or distribution of information stored in electronic computing machines);
• Part 3 of Article 362 (unauthorised actions with information processed in computer systems).

The name and other personal data of this officer are not disclosed by the police. It is only known that the indictment against him has already been sent to court.