Ukraine’s SBU Prevents Killing President, But Several Die In Russian Strikes

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Ukraine’s security service claimed Monday to have foiled a plot to kill the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, but five people died in a suspected Russian missile strike in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk.

A plan to assassinate Zelensky was uncovered after the arrest of a woman suspected of gathering intelligence about his movements, said the SBU security service.

The unnamed woman was allegedly collecting information about Zelenskiy’s visit to the southern Mykolaiv region, on which Russia was allegedly planning to unleash an air strike.

Zelenskiy said on social media that the head of the SBU had updated him on the “fight against traitors.”

News about the suspected assassination plot came after a drone attack on Moscow earlier this year, attributed to Ukraine’s military, was described by the Kremlin as an attempt to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Moscow had warned there would be reprisals for the attack. While the SBU said it prevented the killing of President Zelensky, it was unable to avoid a deadly missile strike blamed on Russia.

At least four civilians and an official were killed, and 31 people were injured in the attack on Pokrovsk, said interior minister Ihor Klymenko said. The city, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) north-west of Donetsk, occupied by Russian forces,
had a population of around 60,000 people before Russia invaded Ukraine last year.

‘RUSSIAN STRIKES’

Zelensky said “the Russian attacks” had struck an “ordinary residential building,” publishing a video of a five-story building with its top floor destroyed.

Klymenko said the first missile strike killed four civilians, adding that an official from the emergency services was killed in the second strike.

The injured included 19 police officers, five rescuers, and a child, he explained.

Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, said at least two civilians were also killed when Russian guided bombs hit “private houses” in Kharkiv Region on Monday evening.

Five people were injured in those attacks, he said. The attacks came a day after a Russian “guided bomb” hit a blood transfusion center in north-eastern Ukraine, killing two people, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukraine has been trying to regain territory occupied by Russia but has made modest gains since launching a counter-offensive two months ago.

Despite ongoing clashes, there was some hope as officials said Monday that Ukraine and Russia exchanged dozens of prisoners of war.

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