Plans to assassinate Zelensky in Kyiv, airport in Poland disclosed

UPI

4 hours ago

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured in 2024 in Washington, D.C.) was the target of two separate assassination plots this past year, according to officials on Monday. File Photo by Ting Shen/UPI | License Photo
June 23 (UPI) -- Details of two separate assassination plots against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year were described Monday by the head of Ukraine's security service.
Two colonels assigned to protect Zelensky were working for the Russian FSB and plotting to assassinate him, the head of Ukraine's security service, Lt. Gen. Vasyl Malyuk, told journalists.
He also described assassination plans in Rzeszow, Poland, at the airport.
Some information from both incidents was disclosed last year, including the one by the colonels.
"Last year, we carried out a major operation," Malyuk said. "One of those detained was the head of a department within UDO -- someone whose role is to protect this country's leadership. Alongside him, another colonel was arrested. Both were working for Russia's FSB, specifically its Fifth Service."
Fifth Service is a part of Russia's federal security service.
Malyuk said the plan was to identify and recruit people to assassinate Zelensky at the President's Office in Kyiv.
"This was an extremely complex operation on our part. We worked on it for nearly two years, essentially from the beginning of the full-scale invasion. We managed to infiltrate the group using a powerful agent-technical operation," Malyuk said.
In May 2024, Zelensky dismissed the head of the unit. Serhiy Rud had been in his job since 2019 and previously led the president's personal security unit.
A Polish military veteran, who "was recruited decades ago and firmly believed in the Soviet cause" planned the operation at the airport, according to UNIAN news agency in a report by Notes from Poland.
UNIAN only identified him as Paweł K. in accordance with Polish privacy laws. He considered several ways to assassinate the Ukrainian president, including using a drone or a sniper, Malyuk said.
SBU and Poland Internal Security Agency uncovered the plans. He was taken into custody in Poland.
Poland's interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, later Monday clarified that it was an incident publicly disclosed in April 2024.
Rzeszow is the main hub for officials traveling in and out of Ukraine.
Siemoniak's spokesman, Jacek Dobrzynski confirmed the suspect was indicted for the crime of "declaring readiness to act for the benefit of a foreign intelligence service against the Republic of Poland." It carries a prison sentence of up to eight years.