Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has survived a fresh assassination plot after Kyiv’s security service took down a network of Russian operatives they said planned to kill him with a drone.
Zelensky has been targeted by Russia in the past and the fresh plot aimed to kill “other representatives of the country’s top military and political leadership,” the SBU said.
They claimed the activities of those involved in the attempt were overseen by the FSB, Russia‘s Federal Security Service, who facilitated the leaking of information to the Kremlin.
In a post on Telegram, the security service said: “The SBU exposed a network of agents of the 5th service of the FSB of the Russian Federation who were preparing the assassination of the President of Ukraine: two UDO colonels were detained.
“Counterintelligence and SBU investigators thwarted the FSB’s plans to eliminate the President of Ukraine and other representatives of the country’s top military and political leadership.”
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In a joint effort by the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Security Office, the attempt to “eliminate” Zelensky was exposed, revealing plans to take him hostage and kill him.
The Telegram post continued: “One of the tasks of the FSB intelligence network was to search for executors among the military close to the protection of the President, who could take the Head of State hostage and later kill him.”
The other intended victims were reportedly the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the State Administration of Ukraine Kyryll Budanov, and other high-ranking officials.
The SBU explained: “The enemy’s plan was as follows: first, the recruited agent had to observe the movement of the person under guard and pass information to the enemy.
“According to the coordinates of the house where the official was supposed to be, a rocket attack was planned. Then they were going to attack the people who remained at the affected area with a drone.
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