On June 15, Russian special services planned to assassinate Denys Yermak — the brother of the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak —, who was in talks with the Russian delegation in Istanbul that very day. In this way, the Russians wanted to influence the negotiation process.
The head of SBU Vasyl Malyuk spoke about this at a meeting with journalists.
Denys Yermak is a sniper, currently serving in the Foreign Legion of the Main Directorate of Intelligence. He also works with drones and spends most of his time on the front line.
According to Malyuk, the option to eliminate Denys Yermak was as follows: he was on the front line (at that time in Zaporizhzhia), and as soon as he returned from a combat order, they would detonate an explosive device on him. To carry out the assassination attempt, an engineer from Kharkiv was hired who could make such a device.
“[The contractor] came to Kyiv and rented an apartment. While he was buying all the necessary components, we managed to install video and audio surveillance in the apartment. So we had full control over the course of events. In addition, we managed to technically penetrate his phone, and we recorded many conversations where the curators directly controlled the entire process in detail,” said the head of SBU.
For four nights, the performer worked only with explosives. During the day, he slept off the bomb, and at night, he started tinkering with everything. The total weight that he “wound up” was 2.5 kg, plus the striking elements. The man also made the detonator himself.
"By the way, a minor boy, 14 years old, was watching Denys. He conducted "watching" in the yard, at the place of residence. At that time, Denys was in Zaporizhzhia, but his wife and two children were in Kyiv. For obvious reasons, we took them away from the address," Malyuk clarified.
The perpetrator bought two phones, one of which was attached to the explosives. He was supposed to come to Denys Yermakʼs apartment and personally deliver the package with the explosives. The Russians had auditory control — if they heard that the agent had approached the target and opened the door for him, they would immediately organize an explosion.
"They wanted to carry out a terrorist attack on May 15 before 3:00 p.m. There was a meeting in Istanbul that day, so the enemy wanted to implement his plan before it began. It is clear that this could have affected the negotiation process, since Andriy Yermak was part of this group. We did not allow the Russians to carry out their plans," the head of SBU concluded.
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