Ukrainian authorities claimed on Tuesday, May 7, to have foiled a Russian plot aimed at killing President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced in a statement that it had “dismantled a network of agents” of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who were preparing “the assassination of the Ukrainian president” and had arrested two Ukrainian officers who were doing so. part.

Other “senior representatives” of the military and political spheres were also targeted, such as the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service (HUR), Kyrylo Budanov, and that of the SBU, Vassyl Maliouk, said the same source.

Since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, kyiv has already reported several assassination attempts targeting President Zelensky and attributed to Moscow. Russia has long been known to have agents in Ukraine’s military and security apparatus, although Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian attack and the failure of the offensive on kyiv in spring 2022 showed the limits of Moscow’s secret services.

This time, the SBU claimed to have arrested “two colonels” from the Ukrainian state service providing security to public officials. “They were arrested a few days ago,” a source within Ukrainian law enforcement told Agence France-Presse.

These two officials would have “transmitted confidential information” to Russia and had been recruited by the FSB before the 2022 invasion, the SBU claimed. The suspects are accused of “high treason” and “preparations for a terrorist attack” and risk life imprisonment, according to this source. In particular, they would have wanted to recruit soldiers “close” to President Zelensky’s security service in order to “take him hostage and kill him”, the SBU further reported.

Multiple attempts according to kyiv

In a video published by the SBU, a man with a blurred face says that he had recommended to the FSB a person ready to “block” President Zelensky, probably when the latter was going to record his traditional evening speech. One of the members of this alleged network allegedly obtained drones and explosives, the SBU claimed.

This network had planned the “liquidation” this week of Kyrylo Budanov, whose death would have been a “gift” to Vladimir Putin for his inauguration on Tuesday, according to the SBU. One of the arrested colonels had the task of observing a building where Mr. Budanov was to arrive by car and passing this information to the FSB so that Moscow could strike the site with a missile. This colonel was then supposed to launch a drone attack against possible survivors after which a second Russian missile should have been sent to “erase traces” of the use of the drone, again according to the SBU.

kyiv has repeatedly denounced assassination attempts against its president and other senior officials or their relatives. For example, in April 2024, a man suspected of helping Russian intelligence prepare an attack against Volodymyr Zelensky was arrested in Poland, according to Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors. Russia has repeatedly been accused of killing Kremlin adversaries at home and abroad, but has always denied the allegations.

In recent months, the situation is more favorable on the front for the Russian army, which had suffered humiliating setbacks in the spring and autumn of 2022. While the Ukrainian army lacks ammunition and recruits, Russian troops are on the offensive in the east of the country and are increasing strikes against inhabited areas across the country.