“FIVE OR SIX” ATTEMPTS
The SBU published photos of masked operatives in camouflage uniform arresting several suspects at night.
In a video posted on the SBU’s website, a man with his face blurred said his task was to “test the mood” among the presidential office’s security guards, and select someone ready to detain the president, possibly as he went to give his nightly broadcast.
The SBU said Russia also planned to eliminate Maliuk, as well as the head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov and other officials.
Budanov was due to be assassinated before Orthodox Easter, which fell last weekend, the SBU said.
The service’s spokesman Artem Dekhtyarenko said the assassin had been promised a reward of up to US$80,000.
It published video footage purportedly of an FSB handler telling an agent to surveil a house linked to a target, apparently Budanov, and text when he arrived.
“You’ll most likely hear a loud blast,” the man says, telling the agent to then use a drone to carry out a secondary strike.
