Ukraine has foiled an alleged conspiracy to destabilize the government, which "would have played into Russia's hands," security authorities in the war-torn country said Monday.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a Telegram post that the suspected coup organizers planned to incite a riot in Kyiv on June 30 as a distraction before seizing control of the Ukrainian parliament and removing the military and political leadership.
It is unknown whether the accused had any ties to Russia, which has launched a devastating full-scale invasion of its southern neighbor for nearly two and a half years.
The SBU stated four suspects had been identified, two of whom were in custody. They might face up to ten years in prison if found guilty. The SBU stated that it recovered firearms and ammunition, as well as telephones, computers, and other materials "with evidence of criminal action."
According to Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office, the suspected coup leader rented a 2,000-person auditorium and hired military soldiers and private-sector armed guards to "carry out the seizure" of Parliament. It's unclear whether prosecutors are looking for any further suspects.
"To implement the criminal plan, the main organizer involved several accomplices—representatives of the community organizations from Kyiv, Dnipro, and other regions," according to the SBU.
The alleged conspiracy in Kyiv comes as Russia has achieved cautious but consistent combat victories in recent months, taking advantage of Ukraine's dwindling manpower and reliance on Western weapons, as well as concern over the future of that military help.
Russian soldiers murdered seven people, including three children, in a missile strike on the southern town of Vilniansk on Saturday, according to Ukrainian officials, prompting President Volodymyr Zelensky to call for more long-range weapons.
"I am grateful to all of our partners for their assistance. And the judgments we need to make must be accelerated. "Any delay in decisions in this war means losing human lives," Zelensky remarked on Telegram.
Concerns have grown over the future of US military backing for Ukraine, with the possibility of another Donald Trump presidency on the horizon.
During this week's presidential debate, Donald Trump questioned whether the United States should continue to fund Ukraine's war against Russia.
Ukrainian politician Oleksiy Goncharenko told CNN that Trump's comments about the war in Ukraine were "worrying."