Volodomyr Zelensky evades three assassination attempts since Russian invasion

Volodymyr Zelensky - who is understood to be #1 on Russia’s hit list - has narrowly avoided multiple assassination attempts in a matter of days.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has narrowly avoided at least three assassination attempts since Russia invaded his country last week, according to a new report.

The assassination plots were thwarted when Russian double agents who oppose the war leaked intelligence to Ukraine about two separate mercenary groups who had been sent to kill Zelensky, according to Ukrainian government officials.

“I can say that we have received information from (Russia’s Federal Security Service), who do not want to take part in this bloody war,” Ukraine Secretary of National Security and Defence told local TV stations, the Times of London reports.

Zelensky is believed to be number one on Vladimir Putin’s hitlist. His family, including his wife and children, are also understood to be top targets, along with key Ukraine government officials.

The shadowy Kremlin-backed Wagner Group was behind two of the planned attempts on Zelensky’s life, according to the Times. If they had been or are successful, Moscow could subsequently deny direct involvement in the assassination plot.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is believed to be number one on Russia’s hit list. Picture: Ukraine Presidency / AFP.

“They would be going in there with a very high-profile mission, something that the Russians would want to be deniable — a decapitation of a head of state is a huge mission,” a diplomatic source told the newspaper.

“In terms of the impact on Russian sovereign policy, this would be perhaps their biggest mission so far. It would have a major impact on the war.”

There are still more than 400 Wagner Group members in Kyiv, after its members infiltrated Ukraine with a “kill list” of 24 officials whose deaths would cause chaos in Ukrainian government, sources told the Times.

Zelensky, 44, also dodged an assassination attempt on Saturday on the outskirts of Kyiv when a group of Chechen assassins were taken out before they could get to Ukraine’s charismatic leader — an actor-turned politician who has been defiant against the Russian leader.

At the start of the conflict last week, the US offered to evacuate Zelensky from Kyiv as the siege unfolded but he declined.

“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” he said, according to the Associated Press.

Zelensky, who has remained in the capital of Kyiv amid intensifying fighting, said in a speech earlier this week that Ukraine would ultimately be triumphant.

“Ukrainians, we know exactly what we are defending,” he said.

“We will definitely win. Glory to each of our soldiers. Glory to Ukraine.”

A woman reacts as she stands in front of a house burning after being shelled in the city of Irpin, outside Kyiv, on March 4, 2022. Picture: Aris Messinis / AFP

In a move supported by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the European Union in December moved to sanction the Russia-backed Wagner Group and its associates for serious human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings, and destabilizing activities in countries including Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic and Ukraine’s Donbas region.