Russia 'lifts ban on killing Zelensky' after high-stakes meeting with Putin

Detailed summary

According to reports, the ban has been lifted as Moscow's security officials warned that the country was running out of defence money to fend off Kyiv's drones ...

Top Russian officials have reportedly lifted an 'unofficial ban' on killing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to reports, Zelensky's top generals may also be a target after a high-stakes meeting with Vladimir Putin.

Kyiv’s repeated raids on Russia’s oil export hub on the Baltic Sea is said to have proved the catalyst for the decision, Blokot reported.

Reports suggest that during a closed-door meeting on Thursday, Moscow’s security officials warned that the country was running out of defence money to fend off Kyiv’s drones. The Leningrad region alone, where St. Petersburg is located, reportedly spent close to the equivalent of $300 million on air defence systems.

“It is pointless to fight the endless swarm of drones — it is necessary to destroy the very chain of decision-making,” one Russian official reportedly said, according to the outlet.

The New York Post reports that security officials decided they’d rather decapitate the current leadership, including Zelensky, citing senior government sources.

“The destruction of other people’s heating does not stop attacks on our refineries, because the people who give orders feel completely safe under the protection of Moscow’s unspoken ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ with the West,” a Russian source said.

Officials reportedly said they could use heavy hypersonic weapons to target bunkers and motorcades carrying Ukrainian leaders and top army commanders.

It comes after Putin issued an ultimatum to Britain, demanding the UK abandon its nuclear protection of European allies as part of a proposed deal to end the war in Ukraine.

A document drawn up by Russian negotiators sets out a series of sweeping conditions Moscow wants met before agreeing to peace, including forcing Britain and France to withdraw their nuclear protection from other European countries.

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