The Ukrainian security services recently announced that they had successfully thwarted a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top military and political figures. Two Ukrainian colonels have been arrested on suspicion of treason for their involvement in the plot, which was allegedly orchestrated by Russia’s Federal Security Service (F.S.B.). The agents involved were tasked with identifying individuals close to Zelensky’s security detail who could take him hostage and ultimately kill him. Other officials targeted in the plot included the head of the S.B.U. and the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency.
This is not the first time that Ukraine has reported potential assassination attempts on its leadership. Zelensky previously revealed that his security services had informed him of more than 10 such efforts. The security services provided limited details about previous plots but elaborated on the recent one, which involved blocking Zelensky as he entered or left a building. The two accused colonels were said to have been recruited before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with three F.S.B. members running the operation from Moscow.
A video released by the security services featured one of the colonels describing the details of the plot to block Zelensky. The agency also revealed a planned assassination attempt on General Kyrylo Budanov before Orthodox Easter. The F.S.B.’s network of agents in Ukraine was surveilling Budanov to gather information about his whereabouts. The attack on Budanov was supposed to involve a rocket strike, drone strike, and a second rocket strike, with weapons provided to one of the accused colonels for the assault.
The Ukrainian security services claimed that the weapons for the attack on General Budanov included attack drones, rocket launcher ammunition, and anti-personnel mines. The colonel was supposed to pass these weapons to other agents to carry out the assault. Russia did not provide immediate comments on the accusations levied against them. This apparent assassination plot is just the latest in a series of attempted or successful attacks on Ukrainian figures, including the poisoning of General Budanov’s wife and numerous attempts on Zelensky’s life.
In addition to the recent assassination plot, Ukraine is believed to have been involved in the killings of several pro-Kremlin voices in Russia. U.S. intelligence agencies suspect that parts of the Ukrainian government sanctioned a car bombing that killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, in 2022. Additionally, a former Ukrainian lawmaker living near Moscow was reportedly assassinated by Ukrainian security service agents in December. The tensions between Ukraine and Russia have heightened due to these targeted attacks, with little sign of easing in the near future.
