Ukraine President Zelenskyy survived three assassination attempts in a week: Report
2 min read . Updated: 04 Mar 2022, 05:03 PM IST
PremiumZelenskyy has demanded still tougher sanctions against his Moscow foes after invading Russian forces attacked and seized a nuclear plant
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dodged at least three assassination attempts last week as Russian troops began their offensive against the eastern European nation, reported the Times of London.
As per the report, the attempts were foiled after anti-war Russians fed intel to authorities in Ukraine about two separate mercenary groups of the Kremlin-backed Wagner group and Chechen special forces, who planned to launch the attacks.
“I can say that we have received information from [Russia’s Federal Security Service], who do not want to take part in this bloody war," Ukraine secretary of national security and defence was quoted as saying by the Times.
According to the report, as many as 400 Wagner Group members are still in Kyiv and are aiming to kill 24 officials in the Ukrainian government.
The 44-year-old president also survived an assassination attempt on Saturday on the outskirts of the country's capital Kyiv when a group of Chechen assassins were taken out before they could get to him.
Meanwhile, senior US senator Lindsey Graham has on live television called for "somebody in Russia" to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.
"How does this end? Somebody in Russia has to step up to the plate and take this guy out," the senator told conservative Fox News TV host Sean Hannity.
He repeated the call later in a series of tweets.
"Is there a Brutus in Russia?" asked the senator, referring to one of Roman ruler Julius Caesar's assassins.
The former presidential candidate also wondered if "a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg" existed in the Russian military, alluding to the German officer whose bomb failed to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944.
"You would be doing your country – and the world – a great service," he said.
Zelenskyy against Russia
Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday accused Russia of seeking to "erase" Ukrainians, their country and their history.
In a video address, the Ukrainian leader said a missile strike on a target at the site of a Holocaust massacre shows that "for many people in Russia our Kyiv is completely foreign."
The attack on Tuesday night damaged Kyiv's main television mast, which was built at Babi Yar, the site of World War II's biggest slaughter of Kyiv Jews and a place of memorial and pilgrimage.
Five people were killed in the strike itself, according to Ukrainian authorities, and for Zelenskyy the symbolism of the location underlined the Russian threat to Ukrainian identity.
"They know nothing about our capital. About our history. But they have an order to erase our history. Erase our country. Erase us all," he said of Putin's invasion forces.
Zelenskyy has also demanded still tougher sanctions against his Moscow foes after invading Russian forces attacked and seized a nuclear plant.
"An immediate reinforcement of sanctions against the nuclear terrorist state is necessary," he declared, amid fears that fighting at the Zaporizhzhia plant could trigger a nuclear accident.
