SBU uncovers murder plot
Zelensky fires the head of his bodyguard
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At the beginning of the week, the Ukrainian domestic secret service reported that it had prevented an attack on President Zelensky. Two bodyguards are suspected of passing on sensitive information to Russia. The case now also has consequences for Zelenskyj's top bodyguard.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has fired the head of his bodyguard after a foiled assassination attempt. Zelensky published a decree “dismissing Serhiy Leonidovich Rud from the post of head of the Department of State Security of Ukraine.” The decree did not give any reasons for the change in personnel in the highly sensitive post. The 47-year-old Rud had headed the department responsible for the personal security of the Ukrainian president and other high-ranking government members and their families since 2019.
The Ukrainian secret service said on Tuesday that it had thwarted an assassination attempt on Zelensky planned by Russia and had arrested two suspects. A “network of agents” controlled by the Russian secret service FSB who were “preparing the assassination of the Ukrainian president” was dismantled, said the Ukrainian domestic secret service SBU. Two officers from Zelensky's bodyguard were arrested on charges of passing secret information to Russia.
According to the SBU, the attack plans were also directed against the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, as well as other “high-ranking representatives” from politics and the military. According to Ukrainian intelligence, the group's plans were aimed at recruiting soldiers close to President Zelensky's security service in order to “take him hostage and kill him.” One of the members of the network obtained drones and explosives.
Russia has had Zelenskyj in its sights since the offensive in Ukraine began. According to Kiev, several assassination attempts have already been made against the president and other Ukrainian government officials. In April, a man was arrested in Poland for suspected plots to assassinate Zelensky. In August, Ukrainian intelligence reported the arrest of a woman accused of helping Russia plan an assassination attempt on Zelensky.
