The SBU made the announcement on the Telegram social messaging app on Monday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The agency said it had “busted a Kremlin-controlled sabotage group which had been planning to kill Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, the head of military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov and a prominent Ukrainian activist.”
USD 150,000 per kill
According to the SBU, Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency commissioned the assassinations, which were to be carried out by a resident of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
He and his co-conspirator, from Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region held by Russian-backed rebels, were promised up to USD 150,000 per murder, the SBU said, according to newsweek.com.
Both would-be killers were arrested by the SBU in the western Ukrainian city of Kovel near the Polish border, officials said.
The suspects have been charged with treason and attempted murder, reporters were told.
'We know full well what to expect from the Kremlin'
The SBU’s acting chief, Gen. Vasyl Maluk, said the plot was yet another proof that "Russia is a terrorist state.”
He added: “We know full well what to expect from the Kremlin, so we act in advance, neutralising the enemy’s special operations.”
Ukrainian officials have announced the busting of several Russian sabotage and diversion groups since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the PAP news agency reported.
On Monday, the Ukrainian General Staff said that Ukrainian forces had neutralised Russian diversion and reconnaissance groups operating near the embattled city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region.
Tuesday is day 167 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, newsweek.com