Russia lifts ban on killing Zelensky and decapitating Ukraine’s leadership: reports

Detailed summary

Russia’s Security Council is reportedly considering lifting an unofficial ban on killing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his top generals, several pro-Kremlin news outlets are reporting.…

Russia’s Security Council reportedly lifted an unofficial ban on killing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his top generals during a high-stakes meeting with strongman Vladimir Putin, according to several pro-Kremlin news outlets.

Kyiv’s repeated raids on Russia’s oil export hub on the Baltic Sea, including the 10th recent blow to the critical port of Ust-Luga in the St. Petersburg area proved the catalyst for the decision, Blokot reported.

Ust-Luga has been key to bankrolling Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, providing a major export route for the Kremlin to evade international sanctions and transport oil to Asia.

St. Petersburg is also Putin’s hometown, making the attacks an especially stinging blow to the Russian ruler — striking deep into the heart of his homeland.

During a closed-door meeting Thursday, Moscow’s increasingly desperate security officials warned that the country was running out of defense money to fend off Kyiv’s drones — and its own attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure no longer worked as a deterrent.

The Leningrad region alone, where St. Petersburg is located, reportedly spent 24 billion rubles — the equivalent of close to $300 million — on air defense 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.

Security officials decided they’d rather decapitate the current leadership, including Zelensky, according to the reports, 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.

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