Chloé Lagadou // Photo credit: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN / ANP MAG / ANP via AFP
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07:45, August 08, 2023
Ukrainian intelligence services say they foiled an assassination attempt on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday. Since the beginning of the war, the threat hangs over the head of state, while the country has been fighting the Russian invasion for more than a year.
Has Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky escaped another assassination attempt? This is according to the Ukrainian intelligence services which arrested on Monday a woman accused of having helped Russia to prepare an attack against the president.
Sometimes compromised security
The latter would have collected for several weeks information concerning the visit of Volodymyr Zelensky in the region of Mykolaiv, an area close to the front line for an air attack at the time of the arrival of the Ukrainian president. This informant would have tried to establish the time and the provisional itinerary of the head of state in the region in order to transmit them to the Russian secret services to enable them to eliminate the Ukrainian president.
The disclosure of this crucial information jeopardizes the security of Volodymyr Zelensky, because secrecy is the keystone of his protection, explains Anna. An interpreter in Ukraine, she followed the Head of State on several of his trips.
A relentless pursuit
“I had to have my passport and my accreditation on me. I was also questioned. I assume that the services checked my information. The car was checked and we had to give our phones 30 minutes before the meeting which we learned the place only at the last moment”, she confides at the microphone of Europe 1.
In the event of a suspected attack, President Zelensky’s security protocol is reinforced. For their part, the Ukrainian security services daily track individuals suspected of transmitting information to help the Russian army.