With roughly 100,000 Russian troops amassed close to the border with Ukraine, warships deployed in the nearby Black Sea, and Russian tanks streaming down from the north, fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to launch an invasion continue to grow inside the former Soviet republic and among NATO allies.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a startling announcement that he had “received information that a coup d’état will take place in our country.” According to Zelensky, it would happen as soon as Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
Zelensky stopped short of accusing the Kremlin of hatching a plot to overthrow his government, but added that taped conversations suggest the possible involvement of Rinat Akhmetov, a Moscow-linked oligarch in Ukraine who controls much of the country’s media and coal resources.
Ahkmetov has furiously denied any role in the planning of the alleged coup, but some Ukrainians, including investigative journalist and former parliamentarian Serhiy Leshchenko, believe that he is actively working with the Russian president to weaken Ukraine.
