Ukrainian counter-intelligence says it foiled a possible assassination attempt on President Volodymyr Zelensky.
A group of Russian saboteurs led by a secret service agent was arrested in the city of Uzhhorod in the border area between Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary, Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency reported.
The group of some 25 men was reportedly also tasked with carrying out acts of sabotage in the government quarter in Ukraine and in other parts of the country.
The men were reportedly planning to masquerade as members of the Ukrainian armed forces in order to make their way to the Ukrainian capital.
The report, however, could not be verified independently.
The Ukrainian government claims that since the beginning of the war, Russian spy squads have tried to get to Kiev and eliminate Zelensky several times to no avail.
On March 2, 2022, a unit of elite Chechen special forces, known as Kadyrovites, purportedly on the secret mission to assassinate Zelensky, were intercepted and eliminated on the outskirts of Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Secretary of National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, had, during a broadcast marathon airing on Ukrainian TV channels confirmed the foiled covert operation.
He said the Ukrainian intelligence acted on a tip-off from ‘fifth columnists’ within the Kremlin, who did not subscribe to the bloody war.
Meanwhile, Zelensky has called on his country’s people to keep up the fight against Russian troops in the face of increasing violence against civilians.
In a video message on Monday, Zelensky appealed to Ukrainians to do everything possible to safeguard their country, saying invaders must be expelled, in order to ensure the restoration of peace and safety of the Ukrainian people.
He referred to the Russian military as “tourists with tanks” and “slaves to their propaganda, which has changed their consciousness”.