Ukraine's state security service announced it has thwarted a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top officials, an alleged "gift" for Vladimir Putin as he was sworn in for a new term in the Kremlin on Tuesday.
The two individuals apprehended were colonels in Ukraine's state guard service recruited by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) who leaked classified information to Moscow, according to a statement from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on the Telegram app.
Their purported mission was to find someone close to the presidential guard who could take Zelenskyy hostage and later kill him, the SBU claimed, without specifying when precisely the alleged conspiracy was disrupted. "The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin for the inauguration, was indeed a failure of the Russian special services," SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk was quoted as saying by his agency on Telegram.
Moscow did not immediately respond to the allegations. The Kremlin previously declined to comment last month when asked about the arrest in Poland of an individual accused of working with Russian intelligence to prepare a possible attempt on Zelenskyy's life.
Zelenskyy, who has spearheaded Ukraine's defense against Russia's more than two-year-long invasion, said last autumn that his security services had foiled at least five Russian assassination plots targeting him.
According to the SBU, the spy group also intended to eliminate Maliuk and Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency. Budanov's assassination was purportedly scheduled to occur before Orthodox Easter Sunday on May 5, the SBU added. The agents allegedly sought to inform the Russian side of Budanov's whereabouts to enable missile and drone strikes at his location. One of the arrested individuals was involved in transporting and storing drones and explosives for the operation, the SBU claimed.
