Assassination attempt on Tsaryov organized by SBU due to his longtime status on 'hit list'

The Security Service of Ukraine staged an attack on Oleh Tsaryov, a former Party of Regions MP and a collaborator, a Security Service source told LIGA.net.

"Tsaryov is an absolutely legitimate target. He is not just a fanatic of the Russian world, but a person who personally came together with Russian tanks to seize Kyiv," said the source.

The details of the operation are not disclosed, but it is known that Tsaryov received two gunshot wounds. His condition is critical, doctors are still fighting for his life.

Earlier, Tsaryov's relatives reported that an attempt was allegedly made on him. It is not known who shot, writes his official Telegram channel. Russian media wrote about the critical condition of the collaborator. The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense told LIGA.net that they are clarifying this information.

In May 2022, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv found Tsaryov guilty of public calls for separatism, violent change, and the overthrow of the constitutional order. This case against Tsaryov was opened back in 2014, when he supported the aggression of the Russian Federation in the east and in Crimea and was the "speaker of the parliament" of the terrorist organization Novorossia. Since 2014, he has been hiding in Russia and the occupied territories. In March 2023, the court decided to leave this sentence unchanged.

On May 19, 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine reported the detention of Tsaryov's brother, who had been living in Dnipro since 2014 and planned to head Dnipropetrovsk Oblast after its occupation by Russia. Moscow instructed him to set off a series of explosions at transport and critical infrastructure facilities – and it was at this stage that he was detained.

In September 2022, the SBU charged in absentia Tsaryov, ex-Party of Regions MP Volodymyr Oliynyk, and the so-called Minister of Foreign Affairs of the "DPR" Natalia Nikonorova: at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, they tried to "reach Kyiv" with the occupation forces.