Ukraine Says it Has Foiled Russian Assassination Attempt Against President Zelensky

A woman allegedly aiding the Russians to take out President Zelensky in an airstrike was caught “red-handed” and faces 12 years in prison, Ukraine’s FBI equivalent has said.

An “informant of Russian intelligence” who was allegedly collecting information on President Zelensky’s planned visit to a region close to the Crimea frontline has been arrested, Ukraine’s intelligence and security agency announced Monday.

The arrest related to a trip to the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine, which was impacted by the destruction of the Kakhovka, last month by President Zelensky. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said the unnamed woman, who appeared in heavily-pixelated form in a picture from her arrest published by the agency, had attempted to gather intelligence about Zelensky’s travel including “the time and locations of the approximate route” he would take.

As well as Zelensky’s travel plans, the woman is alleged to have also tried to discover the position of ammo dumps and electronic warfare systems (jamming equipment) in the region. Per the SBU, this information was intended to plan a “massive air strike”. To get this information the woman is said to have taken videos in the region and socialised locally in hope of hearing information from others.

Ukraine claims the woman was caught “red-handed” while in the act of passing information to Russia and faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted. She is in pre-trial detention on suspicion of “unauthorized dissemination of information about the transfer, transfer of weapons, armaments and military supplies to Ukraine, the movement, transfer or placement of the Armed Forces” and the investigation is ongoing.

There was relatively little mention of the arrest in Ukrainian media otherwise, although the state wires service Ukrinform made an oblique reference to: “the Head of the SBU security service, Vasyl Maliuk, spoke of the efforts on exposing traitors in Ukraine.” The Washington Post reported the remarks of an unnamed Ukrainian security source who said because the SBU prevented the suspect from collecting intelligence, the assassination plot was averted.

If correct, the foiled July plot to bomb Zelensky while he visited a Ukrainian region close to the Russian-occupied area would be one of many such attempts on his life since the beginning of Russia’s re-started war. In March, it was claimed Zelensky had survived three assassination attempts in just one week. Russia, for its part, has also accused Ukraine of trying to assassinate President Vladimir Putin, including with drones.

As noted by Le Monde, for instance, Ukraine frequently announces the arrest of people living in Ukraine who are allegedly handing over intelligence to the Russians. Some of these claims are centred on deliberate acts: when a Kramatorsk pizza parlour was bombed in June, Ukraine arrested a local man accused of having directed the strike. In another case, a social media influencer was raked over the coals by the SBU for having posted a video of an air raid to social media, arguing the video could be used by the Russians to gather intelligence.