Moscow (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Russia’s FSB thwarted a Ukrainian plot to kill a high-ranking officer and pro-Russian blogger with a bomb hidden in a speaker.
Moscow’s Federal Security Service (FSB) stated on 28 Dec 2024 that it had thwarted a plot by Ukraine to exterminate a high-ranking officer and a pro-Russian battle blogger with a bomb concealed in a mobile music speaker. Federal Security Service stated that a Russian citizen had developed communication with an officer from Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency via the Telegram messaging application.
As reported by Reuters, FSB said, at the direction of the Ukrainian intelligence official, the Russian national had then retrieved a bomb from a covering location in Moscow. The bomb, equal to 1 1/2 kg of TNT and filled with ball bearings, was suppressed in a portable music speaker. The FSB did not detail the blogger and officer who was the threshold of the plan.
Ukraine expresses Russia’s fight against it presents an existential danger to the Ukrainian state and has made clear it considers targeted killings planned to deplete morale and avenge those Kyiv considers guilty of war offences as legitimate. Russia has stated they count criminal “acts of terrorism” and blames Ukraine for killing civilians.
What recent attacks highlight Ukraine’s targeting of Russian officials?
Recent occurrences have underlined Ukraine’s ongoing struggles to target high-ranking Russian officials amid the continuing conflict. A significant happening occurred on December 17, 2024, when Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, chief of Russia’s biological and chemical forces, was slain in a bombing in Moscow. This killing has been authorised by Ukrainian sources as a special operation conducted by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU).
On December 27, 2024, Ukrainian forces carried out a HIMARS strike against Russian officials assembling in occupied Zaporizhia Oblast, reportedly eliminating three Russian officials. This seizure was part of a broader plan to disrupt Russian military procedures and involved drawing the officers under the facade of humanitarian assistance deliveries before conducting the strike.
