The Security Service of Ukraine announced the arrest of a group of killers who planned to kill the Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov and the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense Kyrylo Budanov.
This was reported by the SBU press service.
The special service neutralized the sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation. In addition to Reznikov and Budanov, the attackers planned to kill a public activist and an adviser to one of the ministers. According to "Babel", we are talking about one of the heads of the "National Corps" Serhii Korotkyi and the adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Anton Herashchenko.
For the murder of each of them, the Russian "curators" promised a reward in the amount of $100,000-150,000.
The sabotage and reconnaissance group was formed by staff members of the military intelligence of the Russian Federation. It included a resident of temporarily occupied Luhansk, who, as part of the "LPR" fighters, took an active part in combat operations against the ATO forces in the east.
According to the task of the coordinator, he, using his connections in criminal circles, was looking for a killer to commit contract killings. A resident of Kyiv responded to his proposal. For $5,000, he agreed to eliminate a Ukrainian soldier who, according to the occupiers, was allegedly involved in the physical massacre of Russian prisoners of war. "This killing was supposed to be a ʼtestʼ before the enemyʼs main tasks were carried out," the SBU said.
In order to assassinate the heads of the defense departments, the "liaison" decided to personally arrive on the territory under the control of the Ukrainian authorities. Here, together with an accomplice, they had to prepare a "liquidation" plan and submit it for approval to their managers in the Russian Federation.
The attacker entered Ukraine through the territory of Belarus. SBU employees recorded his arrival in the Volyn oblast through the Domanove checkpoint and a meeting with an accomplice. Counter-intelligence officers of the SBU with the involvement of fighters of the "Alpha" special unit detained both criminals in Kovel.
Both detainees were informed of suspicion of high treason committed under martial law and premeditated murder.