Zelensky fires head of Protection Department after uncovering assassination plot

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, dismissed the head of the State Protection Department Serhiy Rud, responsible for your personal safety. The decision was taken on Thursday (9), after the leader discovered that two members of the entity were involved in a assassination plot against himin collaboration with Russian agents.

Serhiy Rud holds the rank of major general. He had been in charge of the State Protection Department since October 2019, the year Zelensky was elected. Regarding the colonels, both were arrested on suspicion of treason and faced life imprisonment.

The assassination plot was discovered by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). According to the entity, members of the Department of Protection were leaking Zelensky’s confidential information to Russian agents, who were looking among his bodyguards for someone to kidnap and kill the Ukrainian president.

In addition to Zelensky, the security service reported that the agents were also planning the deaths of other high-ranking officials. Among the names were the head of the Security Service, Vasyl Maliuk, and the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov – who would be executed before Orthodox Easter, celebrated on the 5th.

“The plan was as follows: first, the recruited agent should observe the movement of a person under guard and pass information to the enemy. According to the coordinates of the house where the officer was supposed to be, it was planned to launch a missile attack. Then, they would attack the people who remained at the scene with a drone. After that, the Russians planned to launch another missile at the location”, detailed the SBU.

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This is not the first time that Ukrainian intelligence claims to have dismantled a Russian plot to assassinate Zelensky. In mid-April, a man, identified as Pawel K, was detained in Poland on suspicion of collaborating with Russian agents. He was charged under article 130 of the Polish Penal Code, related to the crime of espionage.