The Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky has told how he survived an attack on his life at his presidential office in Kyiv with people killed during the Russian assassination attempt
Volodymyr Zelensky has told of gunshots and how “people were killed” during a Russian assassination attempt.
Since Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine, Zelenksy has had to live his life with the constant threat of being taken out by one of Vladimir Putin ’s hitmen. He is known to have survived at least six assassination attempts over the past few years as he continues to stand up to the Russian dictator.
But now he has revealed one attempt where he narrowly escaped with his life but others were tragically killed at his presidential fortress in Kyiv. Zelensky said that people were killed in his office during an attempt on his life as the Russians attempted to force him to accept a peace deal in the wake of the full-scale invasion.
“There were people who wanted to kill [me]. There were gunshots and more,” he told The Guardian. “Some people were killed here, inside the Presidential Office, others were defending us.” He did not say how many people were killed and whether they were Ukrainians or the Russian hitmen.
And now talking about the attempts on his life he said that he had lost track of how many there have been and that while at first they had caused panic, now he had become more accustomed to them.
Zelensky told The Sun: “The first one is very interesting, when it is the first time, and after that, it is just like Covid. First of all people don’t know what to do with it and it’s looking very scary. And then after that, it is just intelligence sharing with you detail that one more group came to Ukraine to [attempt] this.”
It was during the first day of the Russian invasion when he reportedly said that an attempt was made on his life with elite teams parachuting into Kyiv but his bodyguards were able to secure him in his office and protect him with barricades. His closest aides were also given weapons to protect him. Still he added that when he was offered the opportunity to leave by Western powers he refused and instead famously said: “I need ammo not a ride.”
It comes as the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained the head of the agency’s counter-terrorism department Colonel Dmytro Koziura., who is suspected of working for Russian intelligence, SBU head Vasyl Maliuk announced today.
The suspect’s illicit activities were documented in 14 separate cases, according to Maliuk. The SBU chief said that the operation to uncover and detain him required “all possible overt and covert methods.” The case also sheds light on Russian efforts to infiltrate and undermine Ukraine’s security services.