Warsaw:

A man suspected of helping Russian intelligence services assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been arrested in Poland, Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors said on Thursday.

A statement from Polish prosecutors said the Polish national, Pawel K., was suspected of providing information to Russian military intelligence and “helping Russian special forces plan possible assassinations.”

According to the report, the suspect had stated that he was “prepared to act on behalf of the Russian Federation’s military intelligence services and establish contact with Russian citizens directly involved in the war in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian prosecutors had informed Poland of the activities, which allowed them to collect “necessary evidence” against the suspects, the statement added.

Ukraine’s chief prosecutor Andrei Kostin said the suspects were tasked with “collecting and transmitting to the aggressors state information about the security of the Rzeszów-Jasyonka airport in southeastern Poland.”

Zelensky often passes through the airport when traveling. It is also used by foreign officials and aid convoys heading to Ukraine.

Prosecutors from both countries said the suspect had been detained pending judicial proceedings.

“This case highlights the ongoing threat Russia poses not only to Ukraine and Ukrainians, but to the entire free world,” Kostin wrote on Twitter.

“The Kremlin’s criminal regime… organizes and carries out sabotage activities on the territory of other sovereign states,” he added.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski praised the country’s special services and prosecutors for their work in the operation and for their cooperation with neighboring Ukraine.

Warsaw has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters since the Russian invasion in February 2022, although relations have been strained recently over a dispute over agricultural imports.

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