Ukraine says it foiled Russian plot to assassinate top officials with $100,000 bounty payments – Europe live
Ukraine says it foiled Russian plans to kill top officials
Kyiv said Friday that 10 people were arrested in Ukraine and Moldova on suspicion of planning to assassinate senior Ukrainian political figures on Moscow’s orders, with payouts of up to $100,000, AFP reported.
“As part of the work of a joint investigative team of Ukrainian and Moldovan law enforcement officers, an organised group has been exposed that was preparing contract killings of well-known Ukrainian citizens and foreigners,” Ukrainian prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko said in a statement.
Kravchenko said law enforcement had carried out 20 searches across the country and confiscated money, weapons, explosives and communications with Russian handlers.
Seven people were arrested in Ukraine during the raids and three more – including the organiser of the campaign – were apprehended in Moldova, the statement said.
Kyiv only named one of the officials targeted by the suspects, Andriy Yusov, who works on strategic communications for the Ukrainian military and coordinates prisoner exchanges with Russia.
Key events
A war foretold: how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans and why nobody believed them
Shaun Walker
Drawing on more than 100 interviews with senior intelligence officials and other insiders in multiple countries, this exclusive account details how the US and Britain uncovered Vladimir Putin’s plans to invade, and why most of Europe – including the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy – dismissed them.
“It is the story of a spectacular intelligence success, but also one of several intelligence failures. First, for the CIA and MI6, who got the invasion scenario right but failed to accurately predict the outcome, assuming a swift Russian takeover was a foregone conclusion.
More profoundly, for European services, who refused to believe a full-scale war in Europe was possible in the 21st century. They remembered the dubious intelligence case presented to justify the invasion of Iraq two decades previously, and were wary of trusting the Americans on what seemed like a fantastical prediction.
Most crucially, the Ukrainian government was thoroughly unprepared for the oncoming assault, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spending months dismissing increasingly urgent American warnings as scaremongering, and quashing last-minute concerns among his own military and intelligence elite, who eventually made limited attempts to prepare behind his back.”
As the fourth anniversary of the invasion approaches and the world enters a new period of geopolitical uncertainty, Europe’s politicians and spy services continue to draw lessons from the failures of 2022.
Zelenskyy warns North Korean troops in Russia learn modern hybrid warfare
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a warning about 10,000 North Korean soldiers operating on the Russian territory, saying it is “extremely dangerous” that they get trained in modern hybrid warfare.
“They are learning on the territory of Russia now, because we are responding to Russia’s attacks. … What will they do with this knowledge? At the very least, they will bring this knowledge and experience home to North Korea,” he said in an interview with the Japanese outlet Kyodo News.
Zelenskyy offered also his take on the state of peace negotiations, saying that Ukraine remains “ready for real compromises,” but “not … at the cost of our independence and sovereignty.”
Ukraine says it foiled Russian plans to kill top officials
Kyiv said Friday that 10 people were arrested in Ukraine and Moldova on suspicion of planning to assassinate senior Ukrainian political figures on Moscow’s orders, with payouts of up to $100,000, AFP reported.
“As part of the work of a joint investigative team of Ukrainian and Moldovan law enforcement officers, an organised group has been exposed that was preparing contract killings of well-known Ukrainian citizens and foreigners,” Ukrainian prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko said in a statement.
Kravchenko said law enforcement had carried out 20 searches across the country and confiscated money, weapons, explosives and communications with Russian handlers.
Seven people were arrested in Ukraine during the raids and three more – including the organiser of the campaign – were apprehended in Moldova, the statement said.
Kyiv only named one of the officials targeted by the suspects, Andriy Yusov, who works on strategic communications for the Ukrainian military and coordinates prisoner exchanges with Russia.
Poland leaves Ottawa Convention banning antipersonnel mines
Meanwhile, Poland has officially left the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use of antipersonnel mines, amid growing concerns about Russia’s aggressive posture.
The withdrawal means Poland will be able to lay anti-personnel mines along its eastern border in the space of 48 hours if a threat emerges, prime minister Donald Tusk said yesterday.
But Poland says it will only use mines in case of “realistic threat of Russian aggression,” AP noted.
Reuters noted that most of Russia’s European neighbours except Norway move to leave the treaty as they want to be ready to confront any potential threat from Russia.
Morning opening: How to end this war?
Jakub Krupa
Defence ministers of the E5 grouping – France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom – are meeting in the Polish city of Kraków this morning.
They will be joined by their Ukrainian counterpart, Mykhailo Fedorov, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, and Nato’s deputy secretary general Radmila Šekerinska.
Their meeting comes just days before the fourth anniversary of the full-scale Russian aggression on Ukraine, as allies seek to coordinate on the next steps.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed last night that Ukraine wanted to keep Europe involved in any further peace talks with Russia and the US “to ensure that Europe’s positions are taken into account.”
But as the negotiations show limited progress, there are growing questions about the next steps in attempts to resolve the conflict.
I will bring you all the key lines here, as well as other stories from across Europe.
It’s Friday, 20 February 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.