Ukraine thwarts Zelenskyy assassination plot by Russia, says Kyiv counterintelligence

Ukrainian counterintelligence investigators said Tuesday that they thwarted a plan by Russian agents to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other high-level officials.

Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were arrested on suspicion of treason for enacting the plan, Ukraine's state security service said in a prepared statement, which added that the plot was drawn up by Russia's Federal Security Service.

Moscow did not immediately comment on the reports, which indicate that the colonels were recruited prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for the inauguration, was indeed a failure of Russian special services," Vasyl Maliuk, head of Ukraine’s State Security Service, told his agency via Telegram.