Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo / Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo / Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reportedly survived three assassination attempted in the past week alone.
The Times in the UK reports that mercenaries from the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group and Chechen special forces have both attempted to kill the Ukrainian president in the past week.
According to reports, the assassination attemptsfailed because of subversive anti-war members within Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the country's successor to the KGB, who alerted Ukraine officials.
The Ukraine Secretary of National Security and Defence has confirmed the three foiled assassination attempts.
He told local media he received the information from double agents "who do not want to take part in this bloody war".
According to reports, news of one of the assassination plans sparked the 36-hour curfew Kyiv was under last weekend, so soldiers could sweep the streets for Russian saboteurs.
Civilians were warned they could be "liquidated" if they were spotted outside during curfew hours, as they would be assumed to be the enemy.
Sources say the Wagner Group mercenaries have been in Ukraine since January and are tracking Zelenskyy and his colleagues via their cell phones.
On March 1, a Chechen hit squad also tried to kill Zelenskyy but failed as the FSB also reported their movements.
Earlier this week, a report in The New Voice of Ukraine quoted Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council secretary Oleksiy Danilov as saying Russian sources passed information to Kyiv to assist authorities in finding the would-be assassins.
"They were divided in two groups, we were tracking them," Danilov said.
"One group was handled near Hostomel [northwest of Kyiv], the other one is in our sights.
"We won't give up our president, our country. This is our land, be gone."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo / Getty Images
Zelesnkyy is said to not be fazed by the assassination attempts as he has already said he knows he is "target number one".
Despite the risk, Zelenskyy has refused to leave Kyiv even when offered help to get out of Ukraine by the US.
"I need ammunition, not a ride," he told US President Joe Biden at the time.
