SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Ukrainian forces have foiled an assassination plot against President Volodymyr Zelensky, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said on Tuesday.
Oleksiy Danilov said the national security and defense council had received information about a planned assassination attempt on Zelensky from agents of the Russian Federal Security Service.
“We are well aware of the special operation that was to take place directly by the Kadyrovites to eliminate our president,” Danilov said, referring to a Chechen paramilitary group aiding Russian forces in their invasion of Ukraine.
“The Kadyrovites’ elite group, which came here specifically to eliminate our president, was directly destroyed,” he added.
Danilov further said the Kadyrovite group had been divided into two, with one being destroyed in Gostomel and the other “under fire”, according to Axios.
On Saturday, Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechnya region and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Chechen fighters had been deployed to Ukraine to fight alongside the Russian troops.
Kadyrov has often described himself as Putin’s “foot soldier” and his words echoed those of the Russian leader who on Friday urged Ukrainians to rise up against their own government, which he said was made up of “neo-Nazis”. Ukrainian officials say that description of them is absurd.
Kadyrov has deployed his forces abroad to support Kremlin military operations before – in Syria and Georgia.
Among the Chechen battalions are believed to be special forces kill squads deployed to focus on key members of the Ukrainian government with Zelensky target number one, according to Mirror.
“These Chechen forces are tough, battle-hardened and utterly ruthless,” Mirror quoted a British military source as saying.
“They are likely to have little regard for civilian lives as they focus on their mission.”
