Unraveling Russian Influence in Ukraine: The Thwarted Assassination Attempts on Zelensky and Budanov

In recent times, it has been uncovered that two high-ranking Ukrainian officials were involved in attempts to assassinate top government officials in Kiev. This revelation raises questions about the extent of Moscow’s influence on Ukraine. The Ukrainian secret service, SBU, has presented the results of their investigation which reveal that at least two colonels from an agency responsible for protecting high-ranking officials were recruited by the Russian secret service FSB.

The attack plans included kidnapping and murdering President Volodymyr Zelensky and targeting Budanov, the head of military intelligence. Despite the efforts of the SBU, these attempts were thwarted and the colonels were arrested before they could carry out their missions.

While there are no concrete details about Zelensky’s assassination plans, evidence exists that a recorded phone conversation between a Russian FSB agent and a Ukrainian accomplice was part of Budanov’s plot to be killed. The authenticity of these recordings is difficult to verify, but the SBU believes that this threat was real. This discovery sheds light on ongoing Russian infiltration in Ukraine and highlights the challenges faced by Ukrainian counterintelligence efforts.

Despite facing numerous assassination attempts, both Zelensky and Budanov have survived multiple attacks. The escalation of such plots highlights the ongoing security threats faced by Ukrainian officials. While the SBU has made progress in identifying and arresting Russian agents, the extent of Moscow’s reach in Ukraine remains a concern for the government.

The involvement of high-ranking Ukrainian officials by Russian agents is not a new phenomenon dating back to the Maidan revolution in 2014 when Russia launched its invasion on Ukraine. With help from its Western allies, Ukraine has been working to purge its secret services of Russian influence but this recent discovery underscores that there is still much work to be done to secure Ukraine’s security and stability against foreign interference.