Airstrikes Kill 3 in Ukraine as Plot to Kill Zelenskyy Foiled

Secret Service of Ukraine announced Monday that a woman had been arrested in connection with an alleged assassination attempt against President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. SSU stated that the woman “was preparing an airstrike by Russia in the Mykolaiv area during the visit of the President of Ukraine.”

The SSU released a statement referring to an upcoming visit of the president to the southern region.

According to Ukrainian officials, the report by Kyiv’s Intelligence Community came at the same time as Russian forces attacked the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and border areas of the northeast Kharkiv Region, killing at least three people.

Reuters reported on Sunday that Ukraine, citing both Kyiv officials and Moscow officials, had built two bridges connecting the Crimean Peninsula, a large area that has been occupied since 2014 by Russia, to the Ukrainian mainland.

Over the weekend, Russia launched a missile barrage and drone assault across Ukraine. This included an attack on a blood transfusion center, which Zelenskyy referred to as “war crimes.” The strikes are likely to be retaliation against a Ukrainian attack Friday on a Russian port located in the Black Sea. Ukrainian drones struck that port, damaging a Russian warship.

After Russia withdrew from a deal brokered by international mediators in July that allowed Ukraine to export grains to the rest of the world, attacks on strategic Black Sea ports have increased.

Senior officials from around 40 countries, including Ukraine, China, and the U.S., but not Russia, met in Saudi Arabia for peace talks on Sunday. However, no concrete results were produced from the meeting.

The Ukrainian delegation described these talks as an effort to gain international support for Kyiv’s conditions for peace. These include the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and the return of its territory.

In a statement sent to Reuters on Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry stated that the discussions in Jeddah helped “to consolidate an international consensus.”

Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian’s Zelenskyy, expressed last week his hope for a Ukraine “peace conference” to be held this year. He said that the discussions in Saudi Arabia were a step towards that goal.