By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Ukraine’s security services said Tuesday they have uncovered a Russian plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top military and political officials, adding to concerns that Moscow’s military is making advances deep inside the country.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said they detained two Ukrainian colonels who spied and participated in the plot for Russia and accused them of “treason.”
The SBU said the plot involved a network of agents — including the two colonels — that was run by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, the primary successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB.
Those working at Russia’s direction were tasked with identifying people close to Zelensky’s security detail who could take him hostage and later kill him, the SBU said.
The agency’s statement said the other top Ukrainian officials targeted in the plot included Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the SBU, and General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency. The Ukrainian claims could not be independently verified.
It is not the first time that Ukraine has reported a potential assassination attempt aimed at its top leaders. Zelensky himself said in an interview with an Italian television channel earlier this year that his security services had told him of more than 10 such attempts.
Yet the latest revelations come when Russia’s military reports progress on the battlefields.
FULL-SCALE INVASION
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, in a war that has now killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people, most of them soldiers.
Moscow had publicly pledged to topple what it called Zelensky’s “neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv,” even though Zelensky is of Jewish descent.
The latest assassination plot foresaw an attack on Zelensky’s life before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a fifth term on Tuesday, the SBU announced.
“The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin for the inauguration, was indeed a failure of the Russian special services,” said SBU head Vasyl Maliuk in published remarks.
The SBU said the two colonels accused in the plot belonged to the State Security Administration and had been recruited before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Separately, the assassination of General Budanov, the SBU said, was planned to take place before Orthodox Easter, which was celebrated on Sunday, May 5.
The FSB’s network of agents in Ukraine was reportedly tasked with observing and passing on information about General Budanov’s whereabouts.
WEAPONS PROVIDED
Once his location had been confirmed and communicated, he would have been targeted in a rocket and drone attack.
Weapons for the attack were provided to one of the colonels, including attack drones, ammunition for a rocket launcher, and anti-personnel mines, according to SBU sources and Ukraine’s prosecutor general.
The colonel was allegedly to pass the weapons to other agents to carry out the attack.
General Budanov’s wife was poisoned late last year, according to the Ukrainian military intelligence agency, in an incident that led to concerns that Russia was stepping up efforts to target Ukraine’s senior leadership.
The SBU also reported last month that it had arrested a Polish suspect in cooperation with Polish security services. This Polish man, it said, had offered to spy for Russia as part of a plot to assassinate Zelensky.
There was no immediate reaction from Moscow, but the revelations were expected to lead to a review of security measures in Kyiv, where Zelensky regularly met dignitaries, including U.S. President Joe Biden.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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