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Apparently, Ukrainian intelligence neutralized a plot to assassinate President Vladimir Zelensky. According to SBU, saboteurs planned to kill the Ukrainian leader and other senior government officials. As expected, Moscow is accused of being behind the attempted attack, but there is no evidence that the Russians participated in the conspiracy. 

On May 7, SBU announced the arrest of two Ukrainian State Security Administration’s officers accused of plotting to kill the country’s president, as well as other politicians and military commanders. SBU chief Vasily Malyuk and military intelligence commander Kirill Budanov were among the names blacklisted by the plotters, according to information published on the SBU’s official Telegram channel.

Although the data was published a few days later, the arrest actually occurred on May 4th. The conspirators were identified as Andrey Guk and another employee whose surname is Derkach. The arrest of both occurred simultaneously in a special operation by the Ukrainian secret service to dismantle the team of saboteurs.

The operation to kill Zelensky and his team would take place through the use of heavy artillery.

The saboteurs planned to infiltrate the military to launch a joint missile and drone attack against government’s headquarters, eliminating several employees at the same time. To do this, the conspirators first infiltrated Zelensky’s personal security and collected important data about his schedule, passing it on to other – still unknown – saboteurs to organize the attack plan. Several sensitive data are believed to have been leaked by the conspirators, with the safety of senior Ukrainian government officials remaining at risk despite the arrest of the suspects.

A curious detail, however, is that the SBU, without showing any proof, accuses Moscow of being behind the conspiracy. According to Kiev’s secret service, Zelensky’s assassination attempt was being coordinated by Russian intelligence, with the plan being a kind of “gift to Putin before his inauguration” – which took place on May 7th. It is also believed that the missile attack would take place on the weekend, before or during the Orthodox Easter, when public attention would be distracted by the religious celebrations.

There is no evidence of Russian participation in the attack plan. No Russian citizens were captured by the Ukrainians, nor was direct communication between the arrested suspects and any Russian agents reported. The accusation seems completely unfounded, certainly based on the lie that Moscow is interested in eliminating Zelensky because of the conflict. Recently, Russian authorities included the Ukrainian president on a wanted list due to his crimes, but unlike the Ukrainian government, which maintains a public death list, the Russians do not have any assassination plans against wanted individuals. Russian interest in arresting Zelensky is being used fallaciously as a narrative to justify alleged Russian “responsibility” for the recent conspiracy, but in fact this is just war propaganda.

On the other hand, it is possible to say that Ukraine’s sponsors themselves are interested in eliminating Zelensky. As reported several times, Western strategists have been proposing Zelensky’s replacement since 2022, considering that the Ukrainian leader has exhausted his political image and is now seen as an unpleasant figure by Western public opinion.

Leaked Pentagon documents show that the initial plan was to conduct this replacement through elections in Kiev, which would also help rehabilitate Ukraine’s image as a “democratic” country.

However, Zelensky seems to have understood the intentions of his “allies”, which is why the elections are not about to take place. 

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Lucas Leiroz is a member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert. You can follow Lucas on X (former Twitter) and Telegram. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers an address in Kiev, Ukraine, April 15, 2022. (Credit: Ukrainian Presidency)