Serhii Rud, chief of the State Guard Service (UDO) responsible for the protection of Volodymyr Zelensky was sacked after it emerged that two UDO officials had been detained for an alleged assassination plot against the Ukrainian President.
Rud was Zelensky’s main bodyguard who was appointed in October 2019. Information of his dismissal was part of a decree published on the presidential website with no reasons given, media reports said.
The two UDO security guards, both colonels, were detained earlier this week for their alleged involvement in a Russian plot to assassinate Zelensky.
Charges against them involved treason, with one allegedly “preparing a terrorist act.”
The Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office had also accused them of carrying out “subversive activities against Ukraine in exchange for financial compensation.”
Two drones and ammunition from Russia’s state security service (FSB) had been received by one of the suspects, which they planned to transfer to an accomplice to carry out an explosion, the prosecutor’s office said.
The UDO is responsible for the security of Ukraine’s president, administrative buildings and senior state officials.
Plans to assassinate Zelensky and other senior officials, including Ukrainian Defence Intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov had been “foiled,” Kyiv’s state security service (SBU) reported.
There have been several attempts on Zelensky’s life since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
