Ex-Ukrainian security officer charged with executing Monaco bomber claims Kyiv authorized plot to assassinate oligarch

A former Ukrainian security officer charged with murdering the would-be assassin who tried to blow up a Russia-linked oligarch in Monaco claimed he was told that the Kyiv regime green-lit the plot.Vitalii Zhykovych, who is holed up in a Ukrainian prison over the July killing, claimed former intelligence officer Vladyslav Reut’s idea “proposed the operation” to try and kill sanctioned Ukrainian tycoon Vadym Yermolaiev, the BBC reported Thursday. “As Reut informed me, this operation had been authorized and approved by [his] superiors, who served in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense,” he told the outlet, while also referring to Reut as “The Boss.”Zhykovych sensationally claimed that intelligence officers “close to the [intelligence] agency’s current and former leadership,” were linked to the bomb plot, without providing further evidence.What Zhykovych told the BBC is different from what he claimed in a July court hearing — weeks after the assassination attempt.“Someone had ordered this target from the civilian side,” he said in court, appearing to shut down speculation that it had been ordered by government officials.Ukraine’s intelligence agency, HUR, told the BBC it is “committed to a full investigation,” refusing to address Zhykovych’s claims directly.Yermolaiev, his partner, Anna Nasobina, and his 13-year-old son were injured as a result of the explosion, triggered by a parcel bomb that was planted outside his apartment on June 29 by Anastasiaa Berezovska, whom Zhykovych described as his “agent.” The murder suspect revealed he and Berezovska met online and were working to “repel the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.” Berezovska, who disguised herself as a man by wearing a bucket hat, reportedly called Zhykovych the day after the blast – during which she claimed she planted the explosive to receive a large amount of money from Reut.“$50,000 doesn’t just lie on the streets,” s...