The Kremlin has dispatched two distinct groups of mercenaries to Kyiv to assassinate the Ukrainian President. According to The Times of London, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has survived at least three targeted assassination attempts in the last week.

Since Russia’s unprovoked war on its western neighbor began last week, Zelenskyy has conducted business from a handful of bunkers scattered throughout the nation’s capital, having declined an offer from the United States to evacuate him. As a result, he is vulnerable to assassination attempts by teams of Kremlin-backed assassins. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told a Ukrainian television network that anti-war elements within Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) were instrumental in foiling several plots. Zelenskyy acknowledged in a defiant speech last week that he is “target No. 1” to “damage Ukraine politically by assassinating the head of state.” “However, we are not afraid of anything,” he stated. “We have no qualms about defending our country. We have no apprehensions about Russia.”

Last month, US officials warned that Russian forces had compiled a hit list of Ukrainian citizens murdered or detained in detention camps. According to reports, the Kremlin has dispatched two distinct groups of mercenaries to Kyiv in an attempt to carry out that directive. One is being organized by the Wagner Group, a private military contractor headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, dubbed “Putin’s Chef.” The other is a group of elite Chechen fighters that Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov’s Chechen Republic controls.
Danilov stated on Tuesday that a Chechen assassination attempt over the weekend failed and that the group responsible had been “destroyed.” Among those killed by Ukrainian forces was Chechen-Russian Gen. Magomed Tushayev, who faces charges of torturing and murdering LGBTQ+ people in Chechnya. “As we have seen in the past, we anticipate Russia will attempt to coerce cooperation through intimidation and repression,” a US official told Foreign Policy on condition of anonymity. “These acts, which have included targeted killings, kidnappings/forced disappearances, detentions, and the use of torture in previous Russian operations, would almost certainly target those who oppose Russian actions, including Russian and Belarusian dissidents in exile in Ukraine, journalists and anti-corruption activists, as well as vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ individuals.”

Reference

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Has Reportedly Survived 3 Assassination Attempts In The Last Week. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/volodymyr-zelenskyy-assassination-attempts_n_62223f97e4b0bd1df76b3a74?fbclid=IwAR2B4MTER6lt65YaUy3jWlO4SznrVYVLWzoHMbZg8GPpPs6-MlyL4rckb-o