Assassination attempt foiled

Ukraine: Selensky fires his bodyguard chief

Following a foiled assassination attempt, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed the head of his bodyguard. Zelensky published a decree on Thursday "dismissing Serhiy Leonidovich Rud from the post of head of the State Security Department of Ukraine". The decree gave no reasons for the change of personnel in the highly sensitive post.

The Ukrainian domestic intelligence service SBU declared on Tuesday that it had dismantled a "network of agents" controlled by the Russian secret service FSB, who were "preparing the assassination of the Ukrainian president".

"Take all hostages and kill them"
According to the report, the group's plans were aimed at recruiting soldiers from Selensky's security service environment in order to "take him hostage and kill him". Two officers from Zelensky's bodyguard were arrested on charges of passing on secret information to Russia.

The 47-year-old Rud had headed the department responsible for the personal security of the Ukrainian president and other high-ranking members of the government and their families since 2019.

Russia has been targeting Zelensky since the beginning of the offensive in Ukraine. According to Kiev, several assassination attempts have already been made against the president and other Ukrainian government representatives.