Assassination plot on Zelensky, with the involvement of two convoys, foiled by the Ukrainian security services. What would have been the FSB’s plan

A plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky orchestrated by the FSB has been “thwarted”, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced. He claimed on Telegram that two colonels from his own counterintelligence service who allegedly “leaked” information to Russia had been detained.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) says it has caught several Russian agents from Ukraine’s state protection service who were plotting to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior government officials, according to Reuters.

“Counterintelligence and SBU investigators thwarted plans by the FSB (Russia’s security service) to eliminate the President of Ukraine and other representatives of the top military and political leadership,” SBU wrote on Telegram.

SBU investigators have allegedly uncovered an elaborate plot to closely monitor target individuals before targeting them with a “missile attack”, the Daily Mail reported.

“Then they were going to attack with a drone the people who would have remained in the affected area”, the SBU claimed, without providing evidence.

“After that, the Russians planned to target with another missile, including to destroy traces of the drone’s use,” the SBU claimed.

The SBU claimed that Russia intended to “eliminate” the head of Ukraine’s security services, Vasyl Maliuk, as well as “other high-ranking officials”.

They claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate Kiril Budanov, a key player in Ukrainian military intelligence, “before Easter”.

One of the colonels personally handled the supply of FPV drones, RPG-7 rockets and MON-90 anti-personnel mines intended for the attack, the SBU said.

Ukrainian secret services said they documented the plot’s unfolding “step by step” and detained actors believed to be involved before they could unleash terror.

“A limited number of people knew about our special operation and I personally monitored its progress”said the head of SBU Vasil Maliuk.

The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift for Putin before the inauguration, was actually a failure of the Russian special services, he said.

Two colonels, indicted

Two colonels from the Ukrainian government’s guard unit were accused of deploying “subversive activities against Ukraine in return for financial compensation”the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced on Tuesday, according to CNN.

Both colonels were accused of treason; one of them was also accused of preparing a terrorist act.

Prosecutors said one of the suspects received two drones and ammunition from the Russian security service (FSB), which he intended to transfer to another accomplice to carry out an attack.

“One of the tasks of the network of FSB agents was to find accomplices among the military close to the president’s guard, who would take the head of state hostage and then kill him”the SBU said.

Zelensky would have faced several attempts on his life since Russia began its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, writes edition.cnn.com.

A woman from Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine was arrested in August 2023 in connection with a plot to assassinate Zelensky. She was accused of gathering information about Zelenskiy’s planned visit to Mykolaiv in order to plan a Russian airstrike to kill him. The SBU said it had caught the woman “Red-handed” while trying to “to transmit information to the invaders”.

In April, a Pole was charged with helping in another alleged Russian plot to assassinate Zelenski. He was accused of “willingness to act for foreign secret services against the Republic of Poland”, a crime punishable by up to eight years in prison.

Prosecutors said the man agreed to provide information to Russian spies about security at Rzeszów-Jasionka airport in southeastern Poland, near the border with Ukraine, which Zelenski is known to use when traveling abroad. The plot was discovered by Ukrainian authorities and the man was later detained and charged in Poland.

Apart from the assassination plots, Zelensi has had several near misses during his many visits to the front lines and cities under Russian bombardment.

During a visit to the coastal city of Odesa in March, a Russian missile exploded near a convoy carrying Zelenskiy and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The group felt the impact of the strike, which landed about 500 meters from the convoy, and saw a “cloud of smoke like a mushroom“. Five people were killed in the strike, although neither Zelenski nor Mitsotakis were injured.