President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed new details about Russia’s attempts to assassinate him at the start of its full-scale invasion in 2022.
In an interview with The Guardian published on February 11, Zelensky confirmed that gunmen entered the Presidential Office which lead to fatalities inside the building.
"There were people who wanted to kill me, there were gunshots, and more. Some people were killed here, inside the Presidential Office, others were defending us," he said
Zelensky did not clarify whether the casualties were Russian attackers, Ukrainian defenders, or both.
By March 2022, reports from the Kyiv Independent, confirmed that at least three separate assassination attempts had been made on Zelensky’s life.
Among them was a team of elite Chechen soldiers, sent to eliminate him, but they were wiped out after Ukraine received intelligence from a Russian FSB source, according to Ukrainian officials.
Assassination plots against Zelensky have not stopped.
In May 2024, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) announced that it had foiled an FSB plot to kill the president. The plan allegedly involved two high-ranking Ukrainian colonels, who were caught leaking classified information to Russia.
In the earliest days of the invasion, Russian forces pushed toward Kyiv, aiming for a quick decapitation strike to remove Zelensky and install a pro-Kremlin puppet government. The plan failed, with Ukrainian forces repelling Russian troops and winning the Battle of Kyiv.
