kyiv announces the arrest of two “agents” who planned to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky on orders from Moscow

Did the Ukrainian president escape a plot? The Ukrainian security services (SBU) announced on Tuesday May 7 that they had “dismantled a network of agents” of the Russian FSB suspected of having prepared the assassination of Volodymyr Zelensky. These people, accused of responding to orders from Moscow, were “two colonels” of the Ukrainian state service, responsible for ensuring the security of senior state officials, said the SBU, which also suspects these two senior officers of having “transmitted confidential information” to Russia.

In particular, they would have wanted to recruit soldiers “close to the security service” of the Ukrainian president, in order to “take him hostage and kill him”, according to Ukrainian authorities.

One of the members of this alleged network allegedly obtained drones and explosives, according to the SBU.

Another arrest in April

Ukraine has repeatedly denounced assassination attempts against its president, other senior officials or their relatives. In April, 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 poisoning Kremlin adversaries at home and abroad, but it has always denied the allegations.