Ukraine's domestic intelligence agency on Monday announced the detention of a woman on charges of gathering intelligence concerning President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's upcoming travel plans and attempting to provide information about military installations to Russia.
The Ukrainian security agency, known as the SBU, refrained from disclosing the name of the suspected operative. An image released by the agency depicted a woman with dark hair, attired in a black-and-white dress, flanked by two servicemen. The faces of all individuals in the photograph were obscured.
The arrest took place in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv, as confirmed by the security service.
The woman made an attempt to collect intelligence aimed at facilitating an airstrike during a visit by Zelenskyy to the southern Mykolaiv province. Her activities included identifying Zelenskyy's specific whereabouts at certain times and the routes he would traverse. Using the information provided by the arrested woman, Russia reportedly intended to launch a precision missile, with the aim of killing Zelenskyy.
However, her actions were thwarted when she was apprehended "red-handed" while attempting to transmit this information to Russian agents, as reported by the SBU.
According to western intelligence report, President Zelenskyy has managed to survive over 12 assassination plots since the beginning of the Ukraine war.
The agency acknowledged its awareness of her intentions and implemented additional security measures to safeguard the president. Although specific dates were not disclosed, it is known that Zelenskyy journeyed to Mykolaiv in both mid-June and late July.
In addition to these activities, the informant also sought to ascertain the precise locations of Ukrainian "electronic warfare systems" and ammunition storage facilities surrounding the city of Ochakiv, which houses a naval base. This was detailed in the SBU's statement.
The detained woman hails from Ochakiv and previously worked at a military supply store, where she sold goods to soldiers stationed at a local Ukrainian military unit, as per the SBU's account.