Russia claims to thwart Ukrainian assassination plots on senior officers 

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Thursday that it had thwarted multiple assassination plots by Ukrainian intelligence services targeting high-ranking Russian military officers and their families in Moscow.

The FSB reported that the planned attacks involved bombs disguised as everyday objects, such as power banks and document folders.

This revelation follows the Dec. 17 assassination of Lieutenant General Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops. Kirillov was killed outside his Moscow apartment when a bomb attached to an electric scooter detonated. Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency later confirmed to Reuters that it had orchestrated the attack.

Russia condemned the assassination as a terrorist act, labeling it part of Ukraine’s broader war tactics in the conflict that has persisted since February 2022. Moscow vowed to respond decisively.

“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has prevented a series of assassination attempts on high-ranking military personnel of the Defence Ministry,” the FSB stated. “Four Russian citizens involved in the preparation of these attacks have been detained.”

According to the FSB, the detained individuals were recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services to carry out the operations. Ukraine’s SBU has not yet commented on the allegations.

The FSB, which succeeded the Soviet-era KGB, emphasized that it continues to counter such threats as part of its ongoing security measures.

* The New York Post contributed to this article.