KYIV – Ukraine’s state security service said it caught two agents for Russia plotting the assassination of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top officials as “a gift” for Russian President Vladimir Putin as he was sworn in for a new term in the Kremlin on May 7.

The two men were colonels in Ukraine’s state guard service recruited by Russia’s Federal Security Service who leaked classified information to Moscow, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on the Telegram app.

They were tasked with finding someone close to the presidential guard who would take Mr Zelensky hostage and later kill him, the SBU statement said, without making clear at what point the alleged plot had been foiled.

“The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin for the inauguration, was indeed a failure of the Russian special services,” SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk was quoted as saying by his agency on Telegram.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow.

The Kremlin had declined to comment in April when asked about the arrest in Poland of a man accused of working with Russian intelligence to prepare a possible attempt to assassinate Mr Zelensky.

The Ukrainian leader, who has led his country’s effort to fend off Russia’s more than two-year-old invasion, said during 2023’s autumn that his security services had foiled at least five Russian plots to assassinate him.

The spies also planned to help “eliminate” Mr Maliuk and Mr Kyrylo Budanov, the military intelligence agency’s head, the SBU said.

Mr Budanov’s assassination was supposed to happen before Orthodox Easter Sunday on May 5, it added.

The agents sought to inform the Russian side of the whereabouts of Mr Budanov so they could carry out missile and drone attacks at the location, it said.

One of the arrested men was involved in transporting and storing drones and explosives for the operation, it added. REUTERS