An attempted attack on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky was reportedly thwarted by the SBU, the Ukrainian Secret Service, while the president was travelling in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine, BBC reports.
A woman was arrested, described in an SBU press release as “a Russian secret service informant who was gathering information about the President’s planned visit to the Mykolaïv region.” Her aim was to prepare a “massive air attack,” according to the SBU. Her task was to pass on the whereabouts and times of the Ukrainian leader’s visit to the region.
The arrest took place on Monday, August 7th, but the charges against this woman probably go back earlier, since Zelensky visited the Mykolaiv region on two occasions: in June following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, and in July following an episode of intense shelling.
The culprit had apparently been identified some time ago but was deliberately left at liberty by the secret services. This was done to allow them to gather as much information as possible about those behind the attacks and their exact intentions, once all the risks to the Ukrainian president had been averted. According to the SBU, she sought to obtain information on the location of Ukrainian electronic warfare systems and ammunition warehouses. She was arrested in flagrante delicto while trying to pass on information to the Russian secret services. She could face up to 12 years in prison for her actions.
The Ukrainian head of state has made the “fight against traitors” one of his main objectives for a long time.
