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00:00The situation in Ukraine, where the big story is that a plot has been unraveled to assassinate
00:07senior Ukrainian political and military figures, including the president, Vladimir Zelensky.
00:12We understand this is a Russian plot. Two Ukrainian security officials have been arrested
00:16for their links with the group behind it, which had aimed to carry out high-profile
00:21killings ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inauguration, which took place earlier
00:25this Tuesday. Kyiv says Zelensky has been targeted by Russia on multiple earlier occasions,
00:31including at the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Tom Konety here
00:36at France 24 with this.
00:40Russian insiders, Ukraine's secret service claims were plotting to kill Vladimir Zelensky.
00:45Among those detained were two colonels from the Department of the State Protection of
00:49Ukraine accused of divulging classified information to Russia.
00:55The network, whose activities were overseen by the FSB from abroad, included two UDO colonels
01:00who leaked secret information to the Russian Federation. Thus, the enemy was actively developing
01:06plans to eliminate President Vladimir Zelensky. One of the most important tasks of the FSB
01:12agent network was to find officials among the military close to the president who could
01:17take the head of state hostage and later kill him.
01:21The targets they planned to assassinate also include the head of the SBU and the head of
01:25the GUR, Ukraine's military intelligence. According to the SBU, the operatives intended
01:31to monitor and relay the movements of their targets to enable precision rocket attacks
01:35on their locations, followed by drone strikes to eliminate survivors and erase any evidence
01:40of the operation.
01:41Tom Konety there. Let's get more analysis. Yulia Mendel joins us. Yulia was press secretary
01:46to Vladimir Zelensky from 2019 to 2021, where she witnessed firsthand the early years of
01:51the Zelensky administration. Indeed, her book, The Fight of Our Lives, is being updated by
01:56Yulia right now. And of course, it's a great charting of that very interesting, indeed
02:01vital period of time. Yulia, thanks for being with us. This plot to assassinate the president
02:07and other leading members of his team. What's your reaction to this?
02:12Well, Mark, first of all, thank you for having me here. Second, really, Russia tries every
02:18possible means to undermine Ukraine. And definitely President Zelensky has been elected with a
02:25record 73 percent. So the first thing that Russia decided to do when it brutally and
02:31unprovokedly invaded Ukraine in 2022, they tried to assassinate President Zelensky. And
02:38I was talking actually to his close friend who had been the first security service head
02:45of Ukraine. It's actually like CIA. He told me some details saying that in the first three
02:51days there were around 3,000 of counterintelligence operations that Ukrainian military together
02:57with security service did actually to stand against Russians who were trying to get to
03:02Kiev, and also who were trying to assassinate Zelensky, and multiple Ukrainian top officials,
03:08including even ex-top officials like the head of Ukrainian parliament, ex-head of Ukrainian
03:16parliament, of course the head of security service, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
03:19So he told me that Russia sent around 2,000 of Chechens and GRU officers, like,
03:28office soldiers, its main directorate of Russian general staff to Kiev. And they actually tried
03:35to get to Kiev and to the office of the president by several means, by the air, on the helicopters,
03:41by the river, where they actually were killed. And they even have this absolutely science fiction
03:46plan to get to the presidential office bomb shelter under, under earth, which meant they
03:53wanted to use their underground tunnels, which was absolutely crazy idea, and nobody understood
03:59how it would work. They never managed to do that. So I know that there was an attempt to get into
04:06President Zelensky's house in Kiev region, and there were some damages that have been repaired
04:13since then. So the thing is that Russia tried to use first its military, second sabotage groups,
04:20but also third, there were a lot of agents inside Ukraine that Russia was very generously paying to
04:27get different secret information. And when we see state guard who were selling secret information
04:34to Russia, this is really unbelievably crazy, because, you know, these are very close people
04:41to the president and to every top official. They literally know what president eats,
04:46what president drinks, you know, when he goes to bed, like everything, every step, as well as every
04:53step of every other top official. So it shows that Russia tries to penetrate very, very deep into
05:00Ukrainian politics, Ukrainian society, trying to undermine us from inside. And, you know, this makes
05:06us very, very cautious.
05:08This is going to really play into a feeling of paranoia, surely, for the president and for those
05:14around him.
05:16I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?
05:17This is going to lead to an element of paranoia for the president, for those around him, that this plot
05:23so close to the president has been foiled, has been stopped. But the very fact that it has happened,
05:30surely, it's going to make a great deal of suspicion, raise a lot of suspicion for the president
05:34and those around him.
05:36Well, I'm sure that obviously, there is a lot of caution, a lot of warning, and, you know, I guess
05:43some fear, because this is the deaths that going after these people, President Zelensky and other
05:49officials, like for, you know, the third year, like step by step. I'm not sure how many assassination
05:56attempts Russia actually tried to make, but definitely we'll learn a lot of information that
06:03shows that they are very, very goal-oriented here. And definitely, you know, they understand that by
06:11undermining Ukrainian authority, they will undermine the independence Ukraine, because Ukraine
06:17preserved its independence, even we lost a lot of territories and a lot of people.
06:23Yulia, the plot comes at a time when, finally, that $61 billion of USAID has been unblocked via
06:31Congress, it's been held up for such a long time, but obviously, its effects are still not being felt,
06:36its benefits still not being felt on the front lines for Ukrainian troops. I'm wondering whether
06:41that, what's happened with the plot, other issues, the kind of war of attrition that's taking place,
06:47this must be affecting people's morale across Ukraine.
06:50Well, actually, you know, the last month, there was a lot of desperacy, it felt everywhere in the
06:56air, for the reason that, you know, many people felt betrayed. And you feel that there is no way
07:05out. You know, people just keep dying, civilians, military territories are being grabbed, and just
07:12there is nothing you can change, no one can change. So this kind of help, this kind of aid, at least
07:20gave us some hope, because Russians are very persistent to encircling Kharkiv, this is the
07:25second largest Ukrainian city of over 1 million people. And that would be really, you know, very
07:31sorrowful if we lose this city, or if it turns into, you know, any kind of other ruin that Russia
07:40has been turning Ukrainian cities in. But if we understand that this aid is coming, and some of
07:46ammunition is coming, then we feel like we can defend more civilians. Let me be frank here, I
07:52don't think that anyone from Ukrainian military or Ukrainian authorities today believe that we can
07:58return the territories thanks to this aid. But in perspective, you know, first of all, we can defend
08:03more people, we can defend our cities, our towns, and this is the most important thing that we can
08:09do. So I'm really very, very thankful for actually preserving the lives of my people.
08:14Indeed, I know from having read your book, that you are from Kherson, in the south, going down
08:19towards Crimea, and clearly Kherson is one of these places that is forever being hit. So clearly, I
08:25know from your own perspective, from your family perspective, great worries and concerns. When you
08:29hear the likes of Emmanuel Macron talking about the possibility of troops on the ground not being ruled
08:35out, when you hear Lord Cameron of the UK talking about long range missiles for Ukraine to strike at
08:41Russian territory, when you hear Xi Jinping telling Macron just 24 hours ago, that he's committed to
08:46not selling arms to Russia for use in Ukraine. Does that give you any hope of optimism?
08:52Well, when we talk about, you know, Chinese government and Chinese promises, it's always very
09:00ambiguous. And I'm afraid that China understands how valuable they are as a partner now, because
09:08they can influence Russia. So I have this feeling that they play, you know, the game in both, on
09:18both sides. Let me just tell you that since February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine,
09:24China increased its exports to Russia 60%. And it's not only about just commercial goods,
09:32it's also about so-called dual purpose materials, which are used in Russian weaponry production.
09:41Last month, Russia imported 300 million value of such dual goal materials, which will be beneficial
09:52for its weaponry production. It's actually the reduction in the last half of a year from 600
09:58million, but it's still, China is still the biggest supplier of these kinds of materials to
10:04Russia. And US, the EU, United Kingdom, and Japan recognize these type of materials as
10:12top priority, high priority for production of Russian defense sector. So what I mean, you know,
10:19there are just numbers and some of this data is publicly available. And this data is confirmed
10:26by intelligence services in the West, that Russia is providing the materials that are helpful for
10:33Russia to produce weaponry. And in this case, you know, China needs to think that in fact,
10:40if they want actually to contribute to some kind of a future peace deal, they cannot supply the
10:46aggressor with the weaponry or with something that would be useful. They cannot just play in,
10:52you know, both games, pretending to be a peacemaker, but at the same time,
10:56contributing to aggression. So I understand that Ukrainian authorities really are looking for
11:04Xi Jinping to join their peace summit in Switzerland this year. And they want to
11:11send the message and to convince Xi Jinping that he can actually contribute to influencing Russia,
11:17and to stopping this war, you know, and to achieving what is called fair, just peace,
11:24not just peace. Let's see how it will go. We have all hope that European Union leaders and
11:32President Macron would have some influence on Chinese leader. But you know, we will see,
11:40I hope, I hope we will see in the nearest future that Xi Jinping will make some concrete steps
11:47to establishing peace in the region.
11:49Yulia Dyaku, thank you very much indeed for joining us. It's always a pleasure talking to
11:53Yulia Mendel, former press secretary to Vladimir Zelensky. Do stay safe and we can just show you
11:57the cover of Yulia's book, The Fight of Our Lives, which is currently being updated by Yulia.
12:02She does have a story to tell that I can tell you for sure. Thank you once again Yulia for
12:07joining us here on France 24. We appreciate your time.