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Why Zelenskyy dismissed his guard chief
Summary
A look back at the 9 May 2024 dismissal of the head of the state guards, two days after Ukraine's security service announced an alleged plot against the president.
What does it mean when the unit charged with protecting a president comes under suspicion? On 9 May 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Serhiy Rud, the head of the state guards, after allegations that two members of the guards were involved in an assassination plot against him.
The dismissal followed an announcement two days earlier. On 7 May 2024, the Security Service of Ukraine said it had detained two colonels from the government protection unit. According to the service, both had been recruited by Russia's Federal Security Service and were planning to assassinate Zelenskyy and other top Ukrainian officials.
Why the sequence mattered
The allegations concerned people inside the body responsible for the president's physical security, not outsiders. That placed the question of accountability on the unit's leadership, and the removal of its head came within 48 hours of the arrests being made public.
The dismissal was tied to the allegations about the two guards. Nothing in the reports of the time set out a wider set of reasons for the decision.
A wider pattern
Ukrainian officials and news sources have said Zelenskyy has survived dozens of assassination and kidnapping attempts by Russian or pro-Russian agents during the war, including at least three foiled by Ukrainian security services. Seen in that light, the May 2024 case was an alleged attempt reaching into the protective apparatus itself.
The episode showed the security service moving against suspects within state institutions, and the president acting swiftly on leadership. It left the guards under new management at a time when the alleged plot targeted not only Zelenskyy but other senior officials as well.
