Kremlin deployed 400 mercenaries into Kyiv to assassinate Zelensky

A new report published by The Times of London has revealed that the Russian government deployed more than 400 paid mercenaries into Kyiv tasked with decapitating Zelensky’s government in return for a handsome financial bonus.

According to the report, between 2,000 and 4,000 mercenaries with the Wagner Group -- a private Russian military company reportedly owned by the Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin – entered Ukraine through Belarus in January and were ordered to kill 23 senior Ukrainian figures, including President Zelensky, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Upon receiving intelligence about the mercenaries’ presence in the country on Saturday, Zelensky’s government implemented a curfew in Kyiv from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m., effective for at least 36 hours in order to provide a more “effective defense of the capital” and to ensure “the security of its inhabitants."

"All civilians who will be on the street during the curfew will be considered members of the enemy's sabotage and reconnaissance groups," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko tweeted on Saturday. "Please treat the situation with understanding and do not go outside." 

On Monday, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters that the government was aware of reconnaissance forces in Kyiv but could not confirm that those forces were ordered to assassinate Zelensky.

In December of last year, the European Union sanctioned the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group for serious human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings during operations in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic and Ukraine’s Donbas region.

Putin has relied heavily on outside military support since invading Ukraine on Thursday.

Over the weekend, he unleashed a squad of an estimated 12,000 Chechen jihadi fighters into Ukraine, allegedly ordering them to detain or kill a select group of Ukrainian officials.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Islamic leader of Russia's Chechnya region and one of Putin’s most loyal henchmen, said on Saturday that forces under his control had been deployed to Ukraine and had so far suffered no losses, Reuters reported.

"As of today, as of this minute, we do not have one single casualty, or wounded, not a single man has even had a runny nose," Kadyrov said, insisting that Ukrainian sources and widely reported mainstream media reports were all false.

"The president (Putin) took the right decision, and we will carry out his orders under any circumstances," he added.

According to sources in Moscow, fighters were given a 'deck of cards' with the photos and descriptions of lawmakers and security officers suspected of ‘crimes’ by the Russian Investigative Committee, The Daily Mail reported.

On the day before his troops moved into Ukraine, the Muslim leader -- who previously described himself as Putin’s “foot soldier” -- addressed his forces in the central square of the Chechen capital of Grozny and said that upwards of 70,000 volunteer fighters would serve in the “hottest spots in Ukraine.”

“Taking this opportunity, I want to give advice to the current President Zelensky so that he calls our President, Supreme Commander Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and apologizes for not doing so sooner. Do it in order to save Ukraine. Ask for forgiveness and agree to all the conditions that Russia puts forward. This will be the most correct and patriotic step for him,” the leader declared.