Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the head of Ukraine's State Security Administration (UDO), Serhii Rud, according to a presidential decree published on May 9.
The UDO's main tasks include ensuring the security of the President of Ukraine and high-ranking officials of the state, as well as the protection of administrative buildings and objects of state authorities of Ukraine.
Rud's dismissal comes shortly after the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed to have uncovered a network of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) agents who were plotting to assassinate President Zelensky and other high-ranking officials in Ukraine. Two colonels of the UDO accused of leaking classified information to Russia were reportedly detained.
The FSB network aimed to find perpetrators among the military close to Zelensky's security, "who could take the head of state hostage and then kill him."
Just a few weeks before, SBU officials and Polish law enforcement worked to detain a Polish citizen who allegedly offered to Russia to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In late November, Zelensky said in an interview with The Sun that he had survived at least five assassination attempts since the start of Russia's full-scale war.
The Ukrainian president issued several presidential decrees this week mandating changes in senior leadership across Ukraine's government and military.
Dmytro Hereha was reappointed as the commander of Ukraine's Support Forces, and Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former commander-in-chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces, was formally dismissed from military service. Zaluzhnyi will now serve as Ukraine's ambassador to the U.K.
Kateryna Denisova
