Polish authorities arrested a suspect on Friday, August 7, in connection with an alleged Russian plot to kill a Ukrainian-American citizen in Warsaw, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Thursday. Tusk described the case as the first known instance of Russia ordering the killing of an American citizen on NATO territory, saying the operation was disrupted at a late stage with cooperation from U.S. services.
Poland arrests suspect in alleged Russian plot to kill Ukrainian-American on NATO soil
Polish authorities arrested a suspect on Friday, August 7, in connection with an alleged Russian plot to kill a Ukrainian-American citizen in Warsaw, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Thursday. Tusk described the case as the first known instance of Russia ordering the killing of an American citizen on NATO territory, saying the operation was disrupted at a late stage with cooperation from U.S. services.
Speaking at a press conference in Warsaw, Tusk said the targeted individual 'was inconvenient from the point of view of the Putin regime,' adding: 'We have to accept the assumption that the Putin regime will try to eliminate people who are inconvenient for various reasons.'
According to CBS News, Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland's minister overseeing intelligence services, confirmed that the disruption was carried out in cooperation with U.S. services and that the victim was a U.S. citizen 'of Ukrainian origin.' According to ABC News Australia, Tusk said the arrest was conducted by agents of the Polish Internal Security Agency (ABW) and police.
Tusk also warned, according to ABC News Australia, that Warsaw 'will likely come under similar pressure again.'
Western officials have previously stated that Russia has escalated a campaign of targeted killings across Europe since President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. According to CBS News, intelligence officials told the Associated Press that Russian security services have become more brazen, targeting Russian activists, foreign supporters of Ukraine, and military defectors.
According to CBS News, the AP has mapped approximately 200 acts of sabotage, arson, and other disruption across Europe since the start of the war that officials have linked to Russia. Putin said in May that Russia is not waging a sabotage campaign against Europe.
Prior incidents attributed to Russia include the 2006 killing of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London using radioactive polonium, the 2018 attempted killing of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury using the nerve agent Novichok, and the 2019 shooting of former Chechen rebel commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in a Berlin park, according to CBS News.
In June 2026, Russian caricaturist and Putin critic Robert Kuzovkov — known by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky — was shot dead near his home in eastern Poland. Tusk described the killing as a 'political murder,' though both sources note that Polish authorities have not formally attributed the killing to Russia.
According to CBS News, French officials last year disrupted a plot believed to be aimed at killing Russian exile Vladimir Osechkin, while Lithuanian officials disrupted plots against a Lithuanian supporter of Ukraine and a Russian activist. German authorities also broke up two plots: one targeting the head of a German weapons company supplying Ukraine, and another against a Ukrainian military official. Polish authorities in 2024 arrested a man in an alleged plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and a Russian helicopter pilot who defected was killed in Spain that same year, with Russian operatives described as the prime suspects.
- The identity of the targeted Ukrainian-American victim has not been disclosed by any source.
- The identity or nationality of the arrested suspect has not been provided.
- The specific method of the alleged planned attack has not been described.
- The precise nature of the victim's activities that allegedly made them 'inconvenient' to the Putin regime has not been detailed.
- The extent or specifics of U.S. intelligence cooperation in the operation have not been elaborated upon.
- No formal Russian government response to the specific accusation has been reported.
- It is not established whether the current case is connected to the June 2026 killing of Robert Kuzovkov in eastern Poland.