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Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to assassinated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by sending “a team of elite Chechen commandos.”
These commandos were “eliminated” by security forces, a top Kyiv defense official told reporters.
A surprise tip came to Ukrainian forces about the planned attack on Zelenskyy, which enabled them to destroy the elite Chechen unit.
The intelligence came from the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), which is the principal security agency of Russia and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union’s KGB.
The FSB has “no desire to take part in this bloody war,” the Kyiv defense official said.
Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council Oleksiy Danilov explained, “The special operation that was to be carried out directly by the Kadyrovites to eliminate our president is fully known to us today, and I can say that we received information from representatives of the FSB, who today have no desire to take part in this bloody war.”
The Ukrainian defense forces ultimately countered the two death squads sent after Zelenskyy Tuesday.
Zelenskyy is standing alongside other government officials in a video posted to social media on Feb. 25, 2022.
He vowed to defend the country from a Russian invasion.
“The fight is here,” he said, according to a translation of his remarks. “I need ammunition, not a ride.”
Ramzan Kadyrov is the leader of the Chechen Republic, which is a semiautonomous part of Russia. He is an ally of Vladimir Putin, and his commandos are considered fierce, highly skilled fighters. The FSB is in reference to Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Fox News Digital reported Monday that Putin’s move to send Chechen fighters to join the invasion may have backfired as the Ukrainian military outperformed Russian expectations.
The Chechens are part of a Russian national guard unit and are well known for fighting insurgencies, using brutal tactics that even jolted Russia during its two brutal wars in the ’90s against them. The Chechens have been employed to hunt down terrorists in Syria and used by Russia to fight elsewhere, including in Georgia.
They also fought the Ukrainians in Donbas when hostilities began there in 2014.
Danilov said the Chechen strike team arrived in two groups, one of which defense forces engaged in Hostomel, and the other of which the Ukrainian military was keeping a close eye on.
— Advertisement — Danilov also claimed that Ukraine had been tipped off to the death squad by sources within Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Zelenskyy said in a televised address last week that he believed Russian forces had designated him as their “No. 1 target.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stands alongside other government officials in a video posted to social media Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, vowing to defend the country from a Russian invasion.
