Failed Hit On Zelensky
The Oasis Reporters
May 8, 2024
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a press conference in Kyiv on April 29.Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images
By FP
Kyiv foiled what it said was a Russian-coordinated plot to assassinate senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s security service announced on Tuesday. Federal authorities arrested two Ukrainian security officials on suspicion of treason, which carries a life sentence, and of preparing a terrorist act. Russian President Vladimir Putin provided no immediate response to the allegation.
The detained colonels were allegedly part of a network of agents led by three Russian state security members and were recruited before the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Among other plans, Ukrainian officials said, the two men were tasked with finding people close to Zelensky’s security detail who could help kidnap and later kill the president.
The plot also reportedly targeted military intelligence head Kyrylo Budanov and security service chief Vasyl Malyuk.
Ukrainian officials said the suspects planned to kill Budanov before Orthodox Easter, which fell on May 5 this year, by providing information on his whereabouts to target him in a rocket and drone strike.
Kyiv usually remains tight-lipped about assassination attempts against senior officials, of which there have been several since Russia’s war against Ukraine began.
Zelensky told Italian media in March that his security services had informed him of more than 10 such attempts on his life.
These include the Ukrainian State Guard arresting a woman last August for trying to uncover details about Zelensky’s movements outside of Kyiv, and Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors charging a man last month for aiding a Russian assassination scheme.
The most recent plot was supposed to be “a gift to Putin before the inauguration,” Malyuk said.
Putin was sworn in on Tuesday for his fifth presidential term, which will last six years.
The Russian leader won 87 percent of the vote in March after he barred or imprisoned all credible opposition candidates.
Election watchdogs called the vote a sham election, and many Western diplomats boycotted Tuesday’s event.
The inauguration ceremony took place on the same day that a Russian court announced that it would hold U.S. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black in custody for at least two months.
The 34-year-old soldier was reportedly detained in Vladivostok, close to Russia’s border with North Korea, last Thursday and charged with criminal misconduct.
Due to travel home after being stationed in South Korea, Black, who is married, allegedly detoured to Russia without permission from his superior officers to visit a woman that he was romantically involved with.
Russian authorities said he then stole roughly $2,200 from her.
Republican U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, posted on X on Monday that he is “deeply concerned” by the arrest reports, adding that “Putin has a long history of holding American citizens hostage,” including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan.
A U.S. State Department official reiterated a warning on Monday against U.S. citizens traveling to Russia.
©Foreign Policy
