Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, has reportedly survived three assassination attempts on his life in the last one week.
According to The Times UK, mercenaries from Wagner Group, a Russia-backed paramilitary organisation, and Chechen special forces, have on three different occasions attempted killing the 44-year-old president since the invasion started on February 24.
The attempts were said to have been foiled by personnel within the two groups, who happened to work as double agents for the Ukrainian government.
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The agents are also said to be against the invasion from the onset.
Based on the reports gathered by Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine Secretary of National Security and Defence, the Wagner Group, which has over 400 members located in Kyiv, had, since the invasion began, infiltrated the Ukrainian military with a 24-name ‘kill list’.
The Ukrainians also claimed if the attempts had been successful, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, would have denied any involvement.
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“They would be going in there with a very high-profile mission, something that the Russians would want to be deniable — a decapitation of a head of state is a huge mission,” The Times quoted a source as saying.
“In terms of the impact on Russian sovereign policy, this would be perhaps their biggest mission so far. It would have a major impact on the war.”
Top on the 24-man hit list are Denys Shmyal, Ukraine’s Prime Minister, and the Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, both former world heavyweight boxing champions.
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