Vladimir Putin survived assassination attempt at start of Ukraine invasion, report claims

The claim was made by Ukraine's chief of defence intelligence

Ukraine has claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin survived an assassination attempt two months ago at the start of the invasion. The nation's Chief of Defence Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov claimed Putin was attacked in an "unsuccessful attempt" on his life soon after the invasion got underway on February 24. He told Ukrainian Pravda: "Putin was assassinated… He was even attacked in the line of, as they say, representatives of the Caucasus not so long ago. "This is non-public information. Absolutely unsuccessful attempt, but it really took place… It was about 2 months ago." "Once again, he was unsuccessful. There is no publicity about this event, but it took place. " Budanov claimed representatives from the region of Caucasus, which includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of southern Russia, tried to assassinate Putin. Pravda said the full interview with Budanov will be aired on Tuesday. In 2017, Putin told filmmaker Oliver Stone that there had been five assassination attempts against him - and the only reason he is alive is because he organises his own security. "I do my job and the security officers do theirs and they are still performing quite successfully," Putin said in the documentary 'The Putin Interviews'.

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