Two Botched Assassination Plots Against Zelensky Revealed

Details of two separate assassination plots against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year were revealed Monday by the head of Ukraine’s security service, Allen Cone reported for United Press International (UPI).

The plan involved identifying and recruiting individuals to assassinate Zelensky at the Presidential Office in Kyiv. I Photo: Володимир Зеленський Facebook

Two colonels assigned to protect Zelensky were working for the Russian FSB and plotting to assassinate him, Lt. Gen. Vasyl Malyuk, head of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), told journalists.

He also described assassination plans at the airport in Rzeszów, Poland. Some information about both incidents had been disclosed last year, including the one involving the colonels.

“Last year, we carried out a major operation,” Malyuk said. “One of those detained was the head of a department within the 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.”

The Fifth Service is a division of Russia’s Federal Security Service. Malyuk said the plan involved identifying and recruiting individuals to assassinate Zelensky at the Presidential 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, who had been in the role since 2019, previously led the president’s personal security detail.

Meanwhile, a Polish military veteran—who “was recruited decades ago and firmly believed in the Soviet cause”—had planned the airport operation, according to the UNIAN news agency, in a report by Notes from Poland.