After foiling assassination plot, Volodymyr Zelensky fires his security chief

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced this Friday (10) the dismissal of Serhiy Rud, head of the State Guard Service (UDO), which is responsible for protecting the head of state. The decision was taken days after Kiev announced it had thwarted a plot to kill the national leader and other government figures. The information is from the network CNN.

Without justifying the dismissal, the government only stated that Rud will be replaced, with a successor yet to be announced. He was Zelensky’s personal bodyguard and led the team that also protected other important state officials, as well as the administrative buildings of the Ukrainian government.

Although Kiev has not stated clearly, it is inevitable to associate the dismissal of the UDO chief with the plan to assassinate Zelensky. Two colonels from the organization, who would have been co-opted by Moscow to collaborate with the plot, were arrested. According to Kiev, their mission was to capture and kill the president, given the close proximity they had.

In addition to the president, at least two other state authorities would be in Moscow’s sights in the plot: the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, and the head of the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine), Vasyl Malyuk. The objective was to eliminate the first target, Budanov, by May 5, the day of Orthodox Easter.

In revealing the plot, the SBU says it managed to identify three individuals who serve Russian intelligence and would have participated in the scheme, but only revealed the names of two: Dmytro Perlin, who had been recruiting informants since before the Russian invasion in February 2022, and Oleksiy Kornev, who met with one of the colonels detained in “neighboring European states”.

Frequent assassination attempts

In 2022, Zelensky stated that he had already become aware of ten assassination attempts against him, according to the Deutsche Welle (DW) network. More recently, the life of the head of state was at risk once again, with the war already underway.

On March 6, Russian missiles hit the Ukrainian city of Odessa just as Zelensky was preparing to receive Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. It is not clear whether the target was the Ukrainian president specifically, but the bombing occurred close to where the two authorities’ delegations were.

At the time, the newspaper Proto Thema stated that the attack occurred when the Greek delegation was heading to the port of Odessa to meet with Zelensky, a meeting that had been kept confidential precisely for security reasons. He further said the attack appeared aimed at the Ukrainian leader, who “was 150 meters away from the Greek delegation led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.”

Moscow did not deny responsibility, but argued that the Armed Forces “launched a high-precision missile strike against a hangar in the industrial port district of the city of Odessa, which was used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to prepare unmanned boats for combat.” The objective of the attack was achieved. The facility was hit,” according to the state agency. Tass.