Secret service reports arrest
Ukraine: Russian assassination attempt on Zelenskyj foiled
8/7/2023 5:22 p.m
Shortly after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in early June, Ukrainian President Zelenskyj visited the flooded areas. According to the Ukrainian secret service SBU, Russia planned to kill the president during one of the site visits. In this context, the authorities are now announcing the arrest of a woman.
Ukrainian security authorities have arrested a woman on suspicion of assisting Russia in a planned assassination attempt on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. As the Ukrainian secret service SBU announced, the woman had gathered relevant information for Russian secret services about a visit by Zelenskyy in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv. According to the SBU, the woman helped Russia prepare for a “heavy airstrike on the Mykolaiv region.”
According to the SBU, the woman, who lives in the small town of Ochakiv on the Black Sea, worked in a warehouse at a Ukrainian military base. She is said to have tried to find out the timetable and the planned course of Zelenskyj’s visit to the region. They also tried to get information about the location of Ukrainian electronic warfare systems and ammunition dumps.
The woman is therefore charged with the unauthorized disclosure of information about troop movements. According to information from the secret service, she faces up to twelve years in prison. The secret service SBU published a photo of the woman being held by agents, as well as text messages and handwritten notes on military activities. Head of state Zelenskyj wrote on Telegram that the secret service had informed him about the attempted attack and the “fight against traitors” in Ukraine.
Suspect ‘caught in the act’
Zelenskyy visited the Mykolayiv region in June after the partial collapse of the Kakhovka dam that flooded large parts of southern Ukraine and in late July after Russian attacks that left several dead. According to the SBU, the woman was not arrested immediately after she was unmasked – but initially continued to monitor her in order to obtain further information about her Russian contacts and the “tasks assigned to her”. In the meantime, “additional security measures” have been taken to secure Zelenskyy’s visit to the Mykolaiv region.
The suspect was later “caught in the act” when she tried to convey her findings to Russian intelligence. Ukrainian authorities regularly announce arrests of people living in Ukraine accused of collaborating with the Russian army.