The details of the assassination attempt on President Zelenskyi have been revealed: two colonels of the State Security Office of Ukraine have been detained on suspicion of cooperation with Russian special services. They are accused of passing on secret information aimed at eliminating Zelenskyi, the head of intelligence and the head of the SBU. Investigators determined that this network planned to use the military to protect the president for the assassination. The names of supervisors from the FSB, who managed the organization of the terrorist attack, were also revealed. The suspects face detention and life imprisonment. Therefore, the details of the colonels' detention and their connections with the Russian special services were studied in detail.
The details of the attempt on Zelenskyi have been revealed: journalists have established the identities of the detained colonels who had connections with the Russian special services. One of them, Colonel Andriy Huk, was detained in his luxurious house in Koncha-Zaspa, where weapons that had disappeared back in February were found. Another colonel, Derkach, was detained in Sumy Oblast, where he was celebrating Easter. They are accused of cooperating with the Russian special services and of preparing an attempt. These events may lead to the resignation of the head of the State Security Department. The Russian agents' plan included surveillance, a missile strike and a drone attack. The US responded by condemning the immorality of Putin's regime.
Revealing the traitors: the operation to identify and detain the perpetrators is a fascinating story that was revealed by People's Deputy Andriy Osadchuk in his interview with Radio NV. He emphasized that not only were assassination attempts on high-ranking officials planned, but FSB agents at the highest level of law enforcement structures were also discovered. This unfolded in the Department of State Protection, where individuals with access and knowledge were close to top officials. The SBU successfully conducted a complex operation with minimal staff and directly under the leadership of Vasyl Malyuk to avoid information leakage.
The occupiers made big bets on this attempt. It was in this way that they hoped to win the war, based on the erroneous judgment that the key figure for Ukrainians is the president, and not the state itself. This was stated by Ukrainian political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko. "Undoubtedly, now the bet was on the fact that we would "fall off". They proceed from a very banal opinion, they measure by themselves - that the key figure is the leader, the first person. For them, the state, national identity means nothing, they proceed from the fact that there is no Ukraine as such. They did not think that people would fight for Ukraine, that Ukrainians are a nation. They thought - we will kill the president and that's it," he said.
If the Russians had managed to kill Zelenskyi, according to the law, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk would have been temporarily appointed head of state. But, according to the expert, he does not have the authority of Zelensky, so destabilization processes would begin in the country. What was the Russian Federation counting on. "I do not think that this would lead to fatal consequences, after all, there is a military leadership that would continue to carry out its work, but in a political sense, there would be a problem of replacing the president and a person with the same authority as Zelensky, now it would not found It would take time. And the Russians and the Russian troops could take advantage of this for a while," said Volodymyr Fesenko.
The political scientist believes that, most likely, a temporary government consisting of key political figures would be formed in the country. There would also be the problem of elections that cannot be held under martial law. "The maximum that is possible is the creation of a collective leadership of the country, which would take over the management of the country's defense and so on, after all, the country is in a war situation and the situation at the front is not easy," he emphasized.
Will there be more attempts? Ivan Stupak, a military expert, spoke about the attempt on Zelenskyi. He believes that now the president should make urgent decisions about changing the leadership of the UDO, but he is certain that there will be more attempts to kill the head of state. "Attack on top state officials is always a disaster for the state. An attempt on the highest officials of the state in the conditions of war and which was prepared by the people who were supposed to provide protection is a double disaster with the bitter and rotten sauce of treason.
Honor and respect to the employees of the SBU, who were able to identify, warn and detain all (or almost all) those involved. I think that no one will have any thoughts about a possible staging and provocation, because all the preparation actually took place under the leadership of the FSB," he said. The expert noted two particularly negative points: two of the three FSB officers who were involved in the preparation of the attempt were our former compatriots — one from Kharkiv, and the other from Kyiv; reward amount: it turns out that for $3,000 a month, you can easily buy a UDO colonel.
He believes that the president needs to personally take urgent and drastic steps: changes in the top leadership of the UDO; personally participate in the life of the organization that provides his protection; get rid of people who beautifully imitate the process (showing the rumble of wheels), but actually stand still, because life depends on them.
How many times did they want to kill Zelenskyi? The SBU emphasized that the FSB of the Russian Federation has once again confirmed the status of a terrorist organization. We will remind that Zelensky has already survived more than a dozen attempts on his life. Of the latter, a dangerous incident happened in Odesa precisely during Zelenskyi's visit. On March 6, a Russian missile hit 500 meters from the presidential motorcade. Then the head of state was on his way to a meeting with the Greek delegation. The prime minister of Greece, a NATO country, was also there. And on March 18, another piece of news broke the news – the Main Intelligence Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was preparing a new attempt on Zelensky. For this purpose, Russian intelligence recruited a citizen of Poland, Pavel K., who collected information about the airport in Ryashiv. It is from there that Zelensky flies to international meetings around the world.
The high-profile arrest of the attacker by Polish colleagues was then commented on by the SBU. They say that they worked there and discovered the gunner together with the Poles. The child was detained. He faces a term in a Polish prison. Previously, Zelenskyi was asked how he manages to hold on when the entire Russian power machine is working, in particular, to destroy him. The president then joked. He says that he was informed about so many attempts that there is no time to react to them.
Assassination attempts on Zelenskyi: danger and persecution
In the context of the military conflict, the President's Office on Bankova has turned into a real fortress, with small checkpoints at the entrances and exits, and the windows are covered with improvised barricades. Zelenskyi's deputy stated that during the first weeks of the war, at least ten attempts were made on the president. This is not the first time that they tried to kill Zelenskyi. In 2023, the SBU warned of an attempt to eliminate Zelensky with an airstrike on the southern bridge of Mykolaiv during one of his trips.
According to information, there were attempts to kill Zelensky even before his presidency. Former Ukrainian intelligence officer Valery Kur noted that many attempts were made on Zelenskyi, comparing them to those on Fidel Castro. The first attempt to kill the future president occurred as a result of a joke about him by Ramzan Kadyrov, the governor of Chechnya. Another team, probably from Russia, made an attempt on his life after his refusal to yield to the interests of the Kremlin and to implement the Minsk agreements according to Moscow's interpretations.
These events testify to the serious threats to Zelensky's life and safety that arose both before and during his presidency.
