Image by Kremlin.ru
The Ukrainian government alleged today that a prisoner-swap negotiator, Volodymyr Ruban, planned to use small arms and mortars to attack government targets in Ukraine in a bid to assassinate officials including Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Ruban was arrested and charged when found with a cache of small arms in his vehicle.
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“I would like to report that the terror threat level facing Ukrainians was, in our view, the highest in the history of our independence,” declared Ukrainian Security Service chief Vasyl Grytsak in a televised discussion with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, reported AFP. Grytsak alleged the entire plot was hatched by pro-Russian separatists and approved by the Kremlin.
“Ruban was detained on Thursday with a haul of heavy ammunition in his vehicle while crossing the “grey zone” splitting the war zone from the rest of Ukraine. The 50-year-old Ukrainian national is known to have organised several prisoner exchanges dating back to the first months of the war in 2014. Ukrainian media had previously accused Ruban of harbouring pro-Russian sentiments and being supportive of the separatist cause,” reported AFP.
The judge charged Ruban planned to use “mortar guns, grenade launchers, light weapons and explosive devices” in the attempt.
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Pro-Russian terrorist and assassination campaign in Kyiv has been thwarted. Detained Volodymyr Ruban has links to Russian proxies in Donbas and Medvedchuk, whose children have Putin and Medvedev as their Godparents https://t.co/mBraFKb9jM pic.twitter.com/WnE7TrFxfG
— Taras Kuzio (@TarasKuzio) March 9, 2018