The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) announced on Monday that a suspected Russian informant had been arrested in connection with a conspiracy to kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to a statement from the SBU, the detained woman has not been officially identified but is from the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine.
She had allegedly been “gathering intelligence” regarding Zelensky’s anticipated trip to Mykolaiv at the end of July, according to the SBU, in preparation for a Russian airstrike to assassinate the president.
However, SBU agents discovered the “subversive activities of the suspect” and implemented additional security measures, thwarting the scheme.
According to the SBU, it arrested the woman “red-handed” while she “was trying to pass intelligence to the invaders.”
The SBU discovered through the monitoring of the woman’s conversations that she was also tasked with locating military ammunition storage facilities and electronic warfare equipment.
She purportedly roamed the district’s land and recorded the locations of Ukrainian artefacts.
The investigation revealed that the offender was an Ochakov resident from the Mykolaiv district who had previously worked as a salesperson in a military supply store.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Zelensky’s nation began in February 2022, there are multiple known attempts on his life. At the beginning of the conflict, the Ukrainian president was to be killed by Russian special troops.
In an article released in April 2022, TIME magazine detailed how Russian troops had parachuted into Kyiv on February 24, the day the conflict started, to kill or kidnap Zelensky and his family.
The presidential guard attempted to enclose the area using police barriers and heaps of plywood as Ukrainian and Russian forces engaged in combat in the streets of Kyiv, according to TIME.
Rifles and bulletproof vests, according to military intelligence veteran Oleksiy Arestovych, were given to Zelensky and approximately a dozen aides as Russian troops made two attempts to invade the presidential compound.
Arestovych told TIME, “It was an absolute madhouse.” “Everyone needs automatics.”
Zelensky rejected the British and American offers to evacuate him as well as the suggestion of his bodyguards to leave the property. I need ammo, not a ride, he famously said in response.
Later, when Ukrainian soldiers fought Russians in the neighbouring streets, Zelensky left the facility to record a defiant video message on his phone.
In March of last year, Zelensky’s assistant to the Ukrainian president, Mykhailo Podolyak, claimed that Zelensky had escaped more than a dozen murder attempts.
“External sources mention two or three tries. There have, in my opinion, been more than a dozen such attempts. According to Podolyak, who was mentioned in Ukrainska Pravda, “We are continuously receiving information that some reconnaissance organisations are attempting to access government buildings and other places of similar importance.
Zelensky was Putin’s primary objective when he attacked government buildings and made an effort to assassinate the nation’s important leader, according to Western intelligence, he continued.
Shortly before this alleged assassination attempt, Zelensky discussed living with the knowledge that his death is still a top target for Russian troops in an interview with CNN in July.
“I’ll be honest with you and say that I’ve decided to shut myself down if I continue to think about it nonstop. Very similar to Putin right now, who never leaves his bunker,” Zelensky remarked.
Zelensky added that he thinks it’s crucial for Ukrainians to understand that their president is also under peril as they struggle to stave off the Russian invasion.
“If I choose to isolate myself, I won’t be able to comprehend what is happening in the nation around me. I’ll get disconnected from civilization. We would lose our society if I lost this link. I’m certain that society must realise that, if they are in danger, their President is, too. We must all be in danger, he remarked.
They are aware that I have protection, etc., of course, but I must stand by my people. You are aware that you are capable of locking yourself in a cage like an animal and remaining there permanently while feeling like your life is in danger.
Zelensky claimed that by leaving his personal security “to the professionals,” he is able to “free (his) mind to resolve the strategic issues.”