Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has allegedly evaded at least three assassination attempts on his life since Russia invaded the country last week.
Mercenaries from the Russian-backed Wagner group and Chechen special forces have been thwarted by anti-war movements within Russia’s own Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, according to The Times.
ZELENSKY ASSASSINATION PLOT AVERTED, UKRAINE SAYS
A source close to the situation told the outlet that Wagner mercenaries were behind two of the attempts and have sustained casualties in Kyiv.
“They would be going in there with a very high-profile mission, something that the Russians would want to be deniable — a decapitation of a head of state is a huge mission,” an unnamed official said.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov confirmed an assassination effort by Chechen special forces, known as the “Kadyrovites,” to kill Zelensky.
“I can say that we have received information from the FSB [Russia’s Federal Security Service], who today do not want to take part in this bloody war. And thanks to this, I can say that [Chechen leader Ramzan] Kadyrov’s elite group was destroyed directly, which came here to eliminate our president,” said Danilov in a Telegram message posted Tuesday local time.
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Zelensky has openly acknowledged that there were threats against his life in the past week.
In a video call with European Union leaders, Zelensky said, “This might be the last time you see me alive.”
