Kyiv, Ukraine – Two Ukrainian security officials have been taken into custody in connection with an alleged assassination scheme targeting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) unveiled a network of agents allegedly orchestrated by Russian’s FSB aiming not only to eliminate Zelenskiy but also Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, and the SBU’s head, Vasyl Maliuk.

According to the SBU, the elaborate plans involved capturing and killing Zelenskiy and orchestrating missile strikes against Budanov and others using kamikaze drones. The SBU identified three FSB intelligence officers, Maxim Mishustin, Dmytro Perlin, and Aleksii Kornev, as the masterminds behind the operation. Intercepted messages revealed Perlin’s calls for a “big bird” missile attack on Budanov and referred to the drones as “small birds,” emphasizing a sequence of “rocket, drone, rocket.”

The SBU disclosed the recovery of drones, warheads, and mines from an arrested Ukrainian alleged accomplice, who now faces charges of treason and terrorism. One of the alleged agents was identified as a colonel in Ukraine’s state guard service, alleged to have met secretly with Kornev before 2022 in a neighboring European country.

Russian involvement in shipping refined petroleum to North Korea raised concerns, with the US official noting potential violations of UN security council mandates. Amidst these developments, Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, has expressed willingness to discuss supplying a Patriot system to Ukraine following German appeals to EU and Nato member states.

In a concerning turn of events, Ukrainian forces reportedly attacked an oil storage depot on the outskirts of the Russian-held city of Luhansk, igniting a large fire and injuring five individuals. The region’s Russia-installed leader confirmed the incident, which took place in an area where separatist fighters, supported and financed by Russia, seized control in 2014 after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.