At the airport in Rzeszów, the assassination of the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenski was late thwarted, announced on Monday by the Head of the safety Service of Ukraine Vasil Maluk, without mentioning erstwhile it happened. The head of the Polish Ministry of abroad Affairs Tomasz Siemoniak said that this was about the case from last year.
In an interview with journalists Maluk told that his subordinates prevented 2 attempts to assassinate the head of state: in the office of Zelenski in Kiev last year and in cooperation with Polish services - at the airport in Rzeszów. However, he did not specify the date of the event which occurred in Poland.
"The task was to physically remove president Zelenski at the airport in Rzeszów. respective ways were considered. One was the FPV drone, another was the sniper“ He said.
According to Maluk the assassination was to be carried out by retired Polish military, recruited decades ago – stated Interfax-Ukraine agency. “We conducted the full operation, we stopped it. Polish colleagues acted professionally – this was our joint action" - he noted.
"I would like to thank the Polish ABW on this occasion. It is the equivalent of SBU in Poland, the alleged interior peculiar service. Together with them we have carried out crucial criminal proceedings," said the SBU chief.
Last April case
Referring to the information about the assassination effort at Rzeszow Airport, head of the Ministry of Interior Tomasz Siemoniak reported on platform X that This is about last April..
Siemoniak wrote that Polish services cooperate closely with Ukrainian services on safety issues for president Zelensk. "The case of thwarting the preparations for the assassination of the president of Ukraine took place in April 2024 and ended in detention by the ABW and arrest for a Polish citizen who had specified plans and tried to establish cooperation with Russian services“The head of the Ministry of abroad Affairs said.
As he added, on 19 May 2025 he was sent to court an indictment in this case.
In turn, the spokesperson for the Ministry of abroad Affairs Jacek Dobrzyński recalled a communication from last year, in which it was written that on 17 April 2024 ABW officers detained a fishy for a request to cooperate with Russian peculiar services.
Paul K. The man was detained by ABW officers in the Lublin province. K. was expected to study readiness to act for the Russian GRU, and his tasks included, among others, collecting information about the Airport of Rzeszów-Jasionka, which was to aid in planning the assassination of the president of Ukraine.
In the place where K was staying, illegal ammunition was found, among others. The man was temporarily arrested on 18 April 2024.
Speaking of preparations for the assassination of Zelenski in Kiev, Maluk revealed that as a consequence of the SBU operation the colonel, head of the State safety Department, equivalent to the Polish State Protection Service, was detained.
"These are the people to defend the most crucial people in the country – that is their role. Meanwhile, they were preparing an assassination effort on our president, Volodymyr Oleksandrowek Zelenski. According to their criminal plan, they were looking for people to carry out the assassination that was to take place during the transition of the president at the premises of the President's Office of Ukraine," said the head of the SBU.
SBU besides detained another Ukrainian colonel. "Both worked for the Russian FSB, specifically the 5th Service (it is liable for collecting intelligence information, among others, in Ukraine). It was led by Lieutenant-General Sergei Biesied at the time. Besides, after this embarrassment Putin fired him from his post – he became an advisor in the FSB system," Maluk added.
SBU's chief said it was a very complex operation. "We have dealt with this for almost 2 years – practically since the beginning of the war. We have conducted deep infiltration of this group's operative-technical infiltration," he stressed.
Maluk pointed out that, in addition to the assassination of the president, information was collected and assassinations were prepared on the head of military intelligence (HUR) Kyryla Budanov and Maluk himself.
Source: PAP
