‘Terrorist Attack Gift to Putin Was a Failure’ – Ukraine at War Update for May 8

Assassination of Zelensky meant to be inauguration gift

In further revelations about a Russian plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the head of Ukraine’s Security Services (SBU) Vasyl Malyuk said that the Russian operation was meant to be a gift for Putin before his inauguration.

Malyuk himself and Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of Military Intelligence (HUR), were also targeted for assassination.

“A small circle of people knew about our special operation, and I personally monitored its progress,” Malyuk said on the SBU Telegram channel.

“The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin before the inauguration, was actually a failure of the Russian special services,” he added.

“But we must not forget – the enemy is strong and experienced, it cannot be underestimated. We will continue to preempt them, so that every traitor receives the court sentence they deserve,” Malyuk said.

Two colonels from Ukraine’s Administration of State Guard (UDO) are accused of sharing classified information with Russian agents allegedly planning to assassinate Zelensky, Malyuk and Budanov.

The SBU reported that the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) had aimed to identify military personnel close to the President’s security detail who could seize him and then execute him.

Inauguration show full of no-shows

Other Topics of Interest

Zelensky Meets CIA Director William Burns in Ukraine

Zelensky said he had met Burns on multiple occasions throughout the war, but their meetings had been undisclosed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed at an ostentatious inauguration on Tuesday to deliver victory to Russians. In a ceremony replete with a military procession and Orthodox prayer service, He extended his rule to an unprecedented fifth term, approaching virtually uncontested power.

Putin, however, conceded that Russia was going through a “difficult” period, an apparent reference to hundreds of thousands of killed, maimed and traumatized soldiers on top of the heavy sanctions packages the West has imposed on Moscow for having launched its full-scale war in Ukraine more than two years ago.

Putin said the country would emerge “with dignity and become even stronger.”

In protest over the war in Ukraine European countries, including Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic, did not send representatives.

“The Russian authorities are attempting to give the entire world and its own citizens the illusion of legality for the nearly lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship,” Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.

Ukrainians advance to finals at Eurovision

The duo of Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil, Ukraine’s representatives in the Eurovision Song Contest, qualified for the final on May 11 in Malmö, Sweden.

Women’s strength resilience and unity were the main themes of the performance staged by Tanu Muiño.