According to Kiev, a Russian conspiracy to murder Zelensky was prevented

According to Kiev, a Russian conspiracy to murder Zelensky was prevented

According to the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), a Russian conspiracy to kill President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials has been thwarted.

Colonels from the Ukrainian government's bodyguard force have been taken into custody.

According to the SBU, they were a component of the Russian state security service's (FSB) agent network.

It was stated that they had been looking for Mr. Zelensky's bodyguards who would agree to be willing "executors" to abduct and murder him.

The agency also mentioned SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk and director of military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov as further targets.

It was alleged that the gang intended to murder Mr. Budanov before to Orthodox Easter, which happened on May 5 this year.

The SBU claims that the plotters planned to deploy a mole to locate him so that they could attack it with drones and missiles later.

According to the SBU, one of the officers who was subsequently taken into custody had already purchased anti-personnel mines and drones.

According to SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk, the assault was intended to be "a gift to Putin before the inauguration"; Malyuk is referring to Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, who took the oath of office in the Kremlin on Tuesday.

According to Mr. Malyuk, the mission ended up being a disaster for the Russian secret services.

"But we must not forget - the enemy is strong and experienced, he cannot be underestimated," he said.

The two Ukrainian officials are being detained on charges of planning a terrorist attack and betraying their country.

According to the SBU, three FSB employees were in charge of the group and the assault.

Dmytro Perlin, one of them, had been enlisting "moles" before to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Before the invasion, Oleksiy Kornev, an additional FSB official, allegedly had "conspiratorial" contacts "in neighbouring European states" with one of the Ukrainian colonels who was detained on Tuesday.

According to reports, Russian soldiers have been attempting to murder Mr. Zelensky ever since the conflict began.

A Polish man was detained and accused of preparing to work with Russian intelligence agencies to support Mr. Zelensky's potential killing last month.