Suspected Ukrainian agent accused of assassination plot
The man, who was not publicly named but is said to be in his early 50s, was allegedly instructed to plant a home-made explosive device beneath a vehicle used by the target. The bomb, reportedly packed with metal washers to increase lethality, was shown in a photo the FSB released with its statement.
According to the agency, the suspect confessed to having been recruited by Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) last August. He expressed remorse for his role in the attempted bombing, which could carry a life sentence if he is convicted.
The official targeted in the plot serves in the Gornostaevka municipality, located along the Dnieper River east of Kakhovka, where a now-disabled eponymous dam once stood. Residents of Kherson Region voted to join Russia in late 2022 in a referendum Kiev denounced as illegitimate and vowed to reverse.
Following the 2014 Western-backed armed coup in Kiev, Ukrainian authorities launched a targeted killing program aimed at individuals deemed enemies of the state. Initially, intelligence services focused on figures in the Donbass Region who rejected the post-coup government and sought independence from Kiev.
Since the outbreak of full-scale hostilities with Russia in 2022, the program's scope has widened to include suspected collaborators and public figures accused of supporting Moscow.
Those believed to have been targeted by such operations include Russian journalist Darya Dugina, who was killed in a car bombing in August 2022; former Ukrainian lawmaker Ilya Kiva, shot dead in Russia in December 2023; and Russian politician Zakhar Prilepin, who survived a car bomb attack in May 2023 that killed his driver.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
5 minutes ago
- Russia Today
Putin to visit India by year's end
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to travel to India by the end of this year for an annual summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on Thursday. He made the remarks while speaking at a press conference alongside Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, who was in Moscow for an official visit. Later in the day, Putin received Jaishankar at the Kremlin. The upcoming summit between the Indian and Russian leaders is expected to strengthen bilateral relations against the backdrop of complex geopolitical developments, the foreign ministers noted. 'Today we discussed upcoming events within the framework of this dialogue, including preparations for the visit of the Russian president to India by the end of this year,' Lavrov said. 'We have plans to prepare a solid package of documents for this summit,' he added. Russia's top diplomat also noted that last year bilateral trade increased by 15%, setting 'an absolute record in the post-Soviet history of relations between Moscow and New Delhi.' Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Jaishankar emphasized the expanding economic partnership between the two countries and their 'shared ambition to expand bilateral trade in a balanced and sustainable manner.' On Wednesday, he co-chaired the 26th Intergovernmental Commission on cooperation along with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. India's top diplomat described the meeting as 'very productive.' 'We discussed a lot of issues in our bilateral cooperation and found a lot of solutions as well,' he said. Jaishankar also announced that India and the five-nation Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) have signed terms of reference to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement. Established in 2015, the EAEU comprises Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. The Indian foreign minister's visit comes in the wake of US-India tensions over New Delhi's ties with Moscow. Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25% 'punitive' tariff on India – set to take effect on August 27 – over its continued purchase of Russian oil. India has strongly condemned the tariffs as 'unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable,' and has vowed to protect its interests. Speaking in Moscow on Thursday, Jaishankar said India is 'perplexed' by the logic of the measures imposed by the US. Russian officials confirmed that the energy trade with New Delhi hasn't stopped.
Russia Today
18 minutes ago
- Russia Today
Lavrov outlines terms for Putin-Zelensky meeting
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky if all the issues relating to the settlement of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev are worked out, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Following his recent talks with Putin and Zelensky, US President Donald Trump suggested that the Russian and Ukrainian leaders should next meet one-on-one before a potential trilateral summit with him. Zelensky, who visited Washington on Monday, claimed he is eager to negotiate with Putin. Lavrov stated on Thursday that the Russian president 'repeatedly said that he is ready to meet, including with Zelensky, if there is understanding that all issues that require consideration at the highest level have been worked out thoroughly' by experts and ministers. The Ukrainian leader is pushing for a swift meeting with Putin because he wants to remain in the spotlight and is concerned that the attention of the international community towards him is declining, Lavrov said. The foreign minister noted that Zelensky previously rejected any talks with Putin and even signed a decree in 2022 banning such negotiations, which he still has not canceled. "Clearly, his activity in relation to staging a summit with the Russian leader also has a goal of displaying his supposedly constructive focus on the settlement process, but in reality, it is simply about replacing the serious, hard, difficult work on agreeing the principles of a sustainable resolution of the crisis... with special effects and tricks in the style of KVN and Kvartal 95,' he said, referring to shows in which Zelensky appeared during his time as a comedian. According to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, during their phone call on Monday Putin and Trump supported the idea of continuing direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, which restarted in Istanbul in May, and discussed the option of raising the level of officials participating in them. Moscow maintains that any lasting settlement must eliminate the root causes of the conflict, address Russia's security concerns, and recognize current territorial realities, including the status of Crimea and the four former Ukrainian regions that voted to join Russia in 2022.
Russia Today
2 hours ago
- Russia Today
Ukraine not interested in peace
Kiev is openly demonstrating it has no interest in long-term peace with Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, pointing to recent remarks by Ukrainian officials. Following the summit in Alaska between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, and subsequent talks in Washington with Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky and European leaders, the US administration said a peace deal had become more feasible. The White House described the outcome of the talks as progress, noting there was 'a light at the end of the tunnel.' At a press conference on Thursday, Lavrov confirmed that significant progress had been achieved during the Alaska summit. However, he underlined that Ukrainian officials continue to comment on a possible resolution 'in a very specific way that shows they are not interested in a sustainable, fair, long-term settlement.' He pointed to a statement by key Zelensky adviser Mikhail Podoliak, who recently stated that Kiev would acknowledge that some regions are 'de facto' lost to Russia. However, once Kiev secures security guarantees it would seek to regain them and demand that the West impose sanctions aimed at weakening Russia and damaging its economy. According to Lavrov, such rhetoric demonstrates that the Ukrainian leadership, encouraged by its Western sponsors, are pursuing goals antithetical to the joint efforts of Trump and Putin to eliminate the root causes of the crisis. Instead of working toward a settlement, Lavrov argued, Kiev and its backers want to aggravate those causes further by forming anti-Russian military alliances. He suggested that Ukraine's refusal to discuss a settlement before receiving security guarantees is intended to preserve what he called the 'neo-Nazi, Russophobic regime' in Kiev. The minister also accused Kiev's European sponsors of trying to 'disrupt' the peace agenda by ignoring Russia's interests and demanding security guarantees for a country 'that professes neo-Nazi values, grossly violates the rights of national minorities, legislatively tries to exterminate the Russian language in all spheres of life, prohibits the canonical Orthodox Church."'I hope this recklessness will fail and we will continue to follow the course agreed upon by President Putin and President Trump,' Lavrov said.
