Ukraine foils Russian plot to assassinate Zelensky, says SBU

Kyiv: Ukraine's SBU State Security Service announced the apprehension of Russian agents within the Ukrainian state guard service who were allegedly conspiring to assassinate President Zelensky and other high-ranking government officials.

"Counterintelligence and SBU investigators thwarted the FSB's (Russia's security service) plans to eliminate the president of Ukraine and other representatives of the top military and political leadership," SBU stated on Telegram.

Meanwhile, Belarus has initiated tactical nuclear drills concurrently with Russia, reported The Guardian. Belarus is conducting checks on the readiness of its army to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, mirroring Russia's military exercise.

Russia's decision to practice deploying tactical nuclear weapons follows alleged threats from France, Britain, and the United States. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko previously disclosed in April that "several dozen" Russian tactical nuclear weapons had been stationed in Belarus under an agreement made with President Vladimir Putin last year.

In another development, Oleksandr Pielieshenko, a two-time European weightlifting champion, tragically lost his life on the front lines in Ukraine's war. The Ukrainian Olympic Committee confirmed his death, stating that Pielieshenko "died in the war with the enemy" on Sunday at the age of 30.

Pielieshenko, who returned from a doping suspension in 2013-15, won the 2016 European under-85 kilogram division and successfully defended his title in 2017. Despite narrowly missing an Olympic medal by five kilograms at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, where he finished fourth, Pielieshenko faced a second doping violation in 2018.

The Ukrainian weightlifting federation expressed sorrow over his passing, stating, "It is with great sadness that we announce that today the heart of the honored master of sports of Ukraine, two-time European weightlifting champion Oleksandr Pielieshenko, stopped beating."