Ukraine war: Kyiv says it foiled Russian plans to assassinate Zelensky, denying Putin a ‘gift’ for his inauguration
- The head of Ukraine’s state security service said the failed assassination attempt was supposed to be a ‘gift to Putin’ to mark his inauguration on Tuesday
- Ukrainian claims of Russian efforts to kill Zelensky are not new. Zelensky said in 2022 there has been at least 10 attempts to assassinate him
Ukrainian counter-intelligence investigators have foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top military and political figures, Ukraine’s state security service said on Tuesday.
Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were detained on suspicion of enacting the plan drawn up by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), a statement said. The colonels were recruited before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to the statement.
It quoted the head of the State Security Service (SBU), Vasyl Maliuk, as saying the plot foresaw an attack ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a fifth term on Tuesday.
“The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin for the inauguration, was indeed a failure of the Russian special services,” Maliuk was quoted as saying by his agency on Telegram.
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There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
“The network, whose activities were supervised by the FSB from Moscow, included two colonels of the State Security Department who were leaking classified information to Russia,” the SBU said.