“This Russian group tried to kill president and prime minister”, Ukraine says

A senior adviser to Ukrainian Defence Minister told CNN that the notorious Russian military group Wagner was involved in an alleged plot to kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Prime Minister Denis Schmidt.

“They wanted to kill the Ukraine leadership -- our president and prime minister. That was the goal, and some were sent to Ukraine without any success”, said Markian Lubkivsky, an adviser to Ukraine's defence minister. Lubkivsky said this was confirmed by the Ukrainian intelligence service and special forces tasked with protecting Zelenskiy.

All these documents and necessary evidence will be presented to the Tribunal”, he said, adding that he cannot find out more for operational reasons. CNN could not independently confirm these claims.

The Wagner Group was first discovered during the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014. Since then, independent investigations and investigations by CNN have found that the private military contractor operated in Syria and several countries in Africa. American officials and human rights officials have accused them of continuing human rights violations, Report Express reports.

The group is believed to be linked to Yevgeny Prigogine, an oligarch so close to the Kremlin that it is known as Putin's “chef”. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any connection to the group. Prigozin denies any involvement in the Wagner group. Britain became the last country to sanction the Wagner group a few days ago.

Lubkivsky says Ukrainian intelligence has tracked the group inside and outside Ukraine and that several Wagner operatives have been killed within the country. They are identified by their unique marks.

Zelenskiy has repeatedly announced that he will stay in Ukraine to lead the country's defence during the war, which has now entered the second month.

The military's <x0.0moral is very high because our president is in Kyiv, our prime minister and parliament are here. This is very important to support people on the ground, to support the Ukrainian Army and that is a very good signal for the international community”, Lubkivsky said.

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