Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, revealed on Ukrainian television that his country had received information from Russian Federation’s Federal Security Service about a planned assassination attempt on President Volodymyr Zelensky (FSB).
On March 1, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks with Reuters in Kyiv, Ukraine.
“We obtained information from officials of the FSB, who today have no desire to participate in this brutal battle,” Danilov said, adding that the Chechen special forces ordered to murder Zelensky had been “eliminated.”
“The Kadyrovites’ top group, who had come particularly to assassinate our president, was completely decimated,” he claimed.
The Kadyrovites are a Chechen paramilitary group that has been accused of a number of human rights crimes and atrocities. They serve at the pleasure of Chechen Republic President Ramzan Kadyrov, a close Putin friend.
Zelensky is of course asking for help. We don’t need to and obviously shouldn’t go to war over this. It’s weird to expend energy analyzing this conflict by parsing every Zelensky statement for issues and accusing him of trying to kill millions as the city he sits in gets shelled.
— Isaac Schorr (@isaac_schorr) March 1, 2022
Western leaders have urged Zelensky to leave Ukraine, but he has remained in Kyiv, the country’s capital.
“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” Zelensky reportedly said in response to an offer of evacuation by the US.
“No one will be able to break us.” We are a formidable force. “We are Ukrainians,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated in a speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday. “We want to see our children grow up.” I believe it is reasonable.”