Ukrainian President Survives Russian Assassination Plot Involving Polish Operative
Soviet-era recruit planned airport attack; joint security operation thwarted attempt
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was allegedly targeted in a Russian-orchestrated assassination plot involving a Polish military pensioner recruited during the Soviet era, said Lieutenant General Vasyl Malyuk, head of Ukraine’s SBU security service. The Polish operative, driven by Soviet ideology, planned to kill Zelensky at Poland’s Rzeszów–Jasionka Airport using a drone or sniper rifle. Ukrainian and Polish security services jointly foiled the plot.
Zelensky has faced multiple assassination attempts since Russia’s February 2022 invasion. In 2023, he said he had lost count of such plots. In May 2024, Ukraine detained two colonels for leaking information to Russia and plotting to kill senior officials.
Overnight Russian attacks on June 23 killed 14 civilians, including nine in Kyiv, where an apartment building partially collapsed. Russia launched 352 drones, 11 ballistic missiles, and five cruise missiles; Ukrainian defenses intercepted 339 drones and 15 missiles. A Russian missile strike later destroyed an Odesa high school, killing two staff. Zelensky called the attack “absolutely insane,” noting no children were present due to summer vacation.
Russian forces continue a summer offensive along the 1,000-kilometer front line but have made minimal gains, relying on poorly trained infantry against Ukraine’s drone defenses, per the Institute for the Study of War. Zelensky claimed Russian forces used North Korean missiles in the Kyiv strike, calling Russia, North Korea, and Iran a “coalition of murderers.”
This story originally reported by Newsweek.