Russian mercenaries entered Ukraine again to assassinate Zelensky on Putin's orders

Ukrainian intelligence reports revealed that the group of Russian mercenaries of the Wagner group entered Ukraine on a mission to assassinate the President Vlodymyr Zelensky.

Intelligence authorities attached to the Ministry of Defense said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “personally ordered another attack by one of his representatives,” referring to the Wagner group.

“All previous attempts ended in the failure and elimination” of Wagner's mercenaries at the hands of Ukrainian forces, the report added.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak were among the other alleged assassination targets.

The Kremlin has long denied any ties to the Wagner group, a group of 600-strong mercenaries deployed around the world to carry out Moscow's dirty work.

Reports have long claimed that force is Putin's personal assassination squad, but they are far enough away from the Kremlin to allow the Russian president to plausibly deny it.

This is the latest in more than a dozen attempts by both the Wagner group and the Chechen special forces to kill the Ukrainian president since Russian troops launched a savage invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

At the beginning of March Zelensky had survived three attempts on his life by mercenaries of the Wagner group backed by the Kremlin and Chechen special forces.

The killers were thwarted by subversive anti-war members within the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor in Russia to the KGB, who alerted Ukrainian officials.

The Secretary of National Security and Defense of Ukraine confirmed the three assassination attempts and told the local press that he had received information from the double agents “who do not want to participate in this bloody war.”

Intelligence reports have claimed that groups of highly trained Wagner fighters were waiting behind the scenes for the Kremlin's green light to enter Ukraine.

The agents were reportedly handed a 'kill list' of 24 people, including the prime minister of Ukraine, the entire cabinet, Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir, both boxing champions who have become iconic figures on the capital's battlefront.

The attack was sabotaged after plans reached the upper levels of the Ukrainian government on March 5, prompting Kiev to declare a 36-hour “hard” curfew, ordering everyone to stay inside so that soldiers could sweep the streets in search of Russian saboteurs.

Subsequent reports stated that between 2,000 and 4,000 mercenaries had arrived in Ukraine in January, but with different missions.

The group was said to be tracking Zelesnky and his colleagues through their mobile phones, claiming to know where they were at all times.

A Chechen death squad also tried to kill Zelensky on March 1 after the Secretary of Homeland Security and Defense said they encountered two death squads. The FSS also reported on their movement.

The Chechens are part of the Russian National Guard and are known for using brutal tactics.

Russia continued the bombing of other Ukrainian cities on Monday, attacking a shopping center and several apartments in the capital, Kiev, in the early morning, reducing the former to rubble.

The attacks in the city surrounded by Sumy also hit an ammonia plant, prompting an evacuation, as Ukrainians in Mariupol rejected Russia's offer to lay down arms in exchange for an amnesty.

At least 902 civilians have been killed and 1,459 injured in Ukraine by midnight on 19 March, the UN human rights office said.

KEEP READING: