Ukraine thwarts assassination attempt on Yermak’s brother Denys
Russia attempted to murder Denys Yermak on May 15 in order to influence the negotiation process in Istanbul, in which the head of the President's Office, Andriy Yermak, participated, head of Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU), Vasyl Malyuk, said during a meeting with journalists.
Malyuk said that the brother of the head of the President's Office, Denys Yermak, is currently serving as a sniper in Defense Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense (GUR), in the Foreign Legion.
"Besides that, he is now working on drones, most of the time he is on the front line," Malyuk said.
According to Malyuk, the liquidation option was as follows: Denys Yermak is on the front line (at that time in Zaporizhia), as soon as he returns from a combat order – let’s 'train' him with an explosive device.
"The perpetrator is a Kharkiv resident, a brazen, young, competent engineer, that is, someone who can professionally make an explosive device. He came to Kyiv, rented an apartment. While he was buying all the necessary components, we managed to install video and audio monitoring in the apartment. So we completely controlled the course of events," the head of the SBU said.
In addition, as Malyuk noted, the SBU managed to bug the suspect’s phone: SBU officers recorded many conversations in which the curators controlled the entire process in detail.
"For four nights, the perpetrator dealt only with explosives. During the day, he slept, at night he started tinkering with everything. The total weight of the device he "worked up" was 2.5 kg. In addition, he crafted the detonator himself,"Malyuk said.
As for the direct observation, a 14-year-old boy was involved in this.
"I conducted a 'visual' in the yard, at the place of residence. At that time, Denys was in Zaporizhia, but his wife and two children were in Kyiv. For obvious reasons, we removed them from the location," the SBU head added.
He specified: "The Russians were in a hurry, they had to do it with a nosebleed. They planned to do it mega-brazenly.... The Russians told the executor: come, ring the doorbell, they are waiting for you, just hand over the package."
According to Malyuk, this was a classic scheme.
"The executor bought two phones, one of the phones was connected to the explosive. The Russians had auditory control - if they heard that the agent had approached the target and opened the door for him, they would immediately organize an explosion. Neither the one who brought it nor the one behind the door would be alive," he added.
At the same time, Malyuk said Russia planned to carry out the terrorist attack by 15:00 on May 15.
"There was a meeting in Istanbul that day, so the enemy wanted to implement its plan before it began. It is clear that this could have affected the negotiation process, since Andriy Yermak was part of this group. We did not allow the Russians to carry out their plans," he said.