MOSCOW: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has survived at least three assassination attempts from Russia-backed agents in the past week, The Times of London reported.
As per reports, the attempts were carried out by mercenaries with the Wagner Group as well as Chechen special forces working under Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia's Chechen Republic and close ally of President Vladimir Putin.
Notably, the Wagner Group is a private army owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, another ally of Putin.
Zelensky previously warned that "enemy sabotage groups" were active in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, and that he was their "number one target."
However, several assassination attempts were foiled after Ukrainian security officials were tipped off by people working for Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) who opposed the invasion.
Earlier last week, an assassination attempt by a group of Chechen assassins on the outskirts of Kyiv was foiled on Saturday, with the agents "eliminated" before they could reach Zelensky.
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, gave a similar report on Telegram earlier this week.
"I can say that we have received information from the FSB, who do not want to take part in this bloody war," he said.
"And thanks to this, the Kadyrov elite group was destroyed, which came here to eliminate our president."
Around 400 Wagner mercenaries were dispatched to Kyiv and offered a financial bonus by the Kremlin for assassinating more than 20 notable Ukrainians, including Zelensky.
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