Ukraine security chiefs Vasyl Hrytsak and Anatoliy Matios

Vasyl Hrytsak, the head of the SBU intelligence agency, told a news conference in Kiev that eight members of the Russian group had been detained and charged in connection with the assassination plot. Ukraine's chief military prosecutor Anatoly Matios said two of the hit squad members were staff officers of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency. He said the other six were Ukrainian nationals.

There was no immediate reaction from Russia's GRU. The SBU has reported before that it captured groups belonging to Russian special agencies. Mr Matios said: "Those detained were involved in the attempted murder of an employee of the Ukrainian defence ministry's intelligence service in Kiev in April.” He said the group had planted a bomb beneath the intended target’s car which had gone off prematurely, badly injuring one of the accused.

Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasyl Hrytsak

The SBU released a video of the same incident which showed a man placing the bomb under a car before a big explosion. The video showed a man lying in a hospital bed with part of his right arm missing saying he was Russian and born in Moscow. The issue of how to deal with Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014 and backs pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, is prominent ahead of Sunday’s vote, with President Petro Poroshenko casting himself as the commander-in-chief Ukraine needs to defend the country. The GRU is thought to be behind the attempted murder of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in a nerve agent attack in Salisbury in March 2018.

Vasyl Hrytsak shows images of the arrested GRU agents</s>The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said Wednesday it had captured a Russian military intelligence hit squad responsible for the attempted murder of a Ukrainian military spy in the run-up to a presidential election Sunday.

The issue of how to deal with Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014 and backs pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, is prominent ahead of the vote, with incumbent Petro Poroshenko casting himself as the commander-in-chief Ukraine needs to defend the country.

Vasyl Hrytsak, the head of the SBU, the main intelligence agency, told a news conference in Kiev that seven members of the Russian group had been detained and charged and that an eighth person had been detained Wednesday morning.

Two of the group's members were Russian citizens, said Anatoly Matios, Ukraine's military prosecutor, describing them as staff officers of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency. The other six were Ukrainians.

There was no immediate reaction from Russia's GRU.

The SBU has reported before that it captured groups belonging to Russian special agencies.

"Those detained were involved in the attempted murder of an employee of the Ukrainian defense ministry's intelligence service...in Kiev in April," said Matios, adding the group had planted a bomb beneath the man's car which had gone off prematurely, badly injuring one of the accused.

The SBU released a video of the same incident which showed a man placing the bomb under a car before a big explosion. The video showed a man lying in a hospital bed with part of his right arm missing saying he was Russian and born in Moscow.</s>Vasyl Hrytsak, the head of the SBU intelligence agency, told a news conference in Kiev that eight members of the Russian group had been detained and charged in connection with the assassination plot. Ukraine's chief military prosecutor Anatoly Matios said two of the hit squad members were staff officers of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency. He said the other six were Ukrainian nationals.

There was no immediate reaction from Russia's GRU. The SBU has reported before that it captured groups belonging to Russian special agencies. Mr Matios said: "Those detained were involved in the attempted murder of an employee of the Ukrainian defence ministry's intelligence service in Kiev in April.” He said the group had planted a bomb beneath the intended target’s car which had gone off prematurely, badly injuring one of the accused.

The SBU released a video of the same incident which showed a man placing the bomb under a car before a big explosion. The video showed a man lying in a hospital bed with part of his right arm missing saying he was Russian and born in Moscow. The issue of how to deal with Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014 and backs pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, is prominent ahead of Sunday’s vote, with President Petro Poroshenko casting himself as the commander-in-chief Ukraine needs to defend the country. The GRU is thought to be behind the attempted murder of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in a nerve agent attack in Salisbury in March 2018.

Both survived the attempt on their lives but four months later Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after coming into contact with an item contaminated with novichok in Amesbury, Wilts. Her partner Charlie Rowley, 45, also fell seriously ill after being exposed to the nerve agent, but survived. A GRU unit was arrested by Dutch agents last April as they attempted to hack into the computer systems of the the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) headquarters in The Hague. The OPCW was investigating both the use of chemical weapons in Syria and the Salisbury nerve agent attack.</s></s>Preparations continue for the scheduled debate between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his challenger, the comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Zelenskiy and Poroshenko are now due to face off in a question-and-answer format at Kyiv's Olimpiyskiy Stadium on April 19, just two days before the runoff vote on April 21.

Opinion polls show Zelenskiy with a comfortable lead over Poroshenko, whom many Ukrainians blame for the slow pace of reform and failure to tackle corruption during his five-year term.

Zelenskiy, who stars on a TV comedy series about a teacher who becomes president after denouncing corruption, won nearly twice as many votes as Poroshenko in the first round, on March 31.

The two candidates had agreed to a debate, but not on details, such as when.

Poroshenko showed up at Olimpiyskiy Stadium on April 14, insisting the debate would take place then.

Zelenskiy did not appear, and Poroshenko ended up holding a rally there with supporters.

Now, both camps say the two candidates will meet at the 70,000-seat stadium on April 19, according to a report by the AFP news agency.

The Zelenskiy team is promoting the event on social media, encouraging the public to be "witness to an event that will go down in the history of Ukraine," according to AFP.

The two men took drug tests earlier this month at Zelenskiy's insistence in a campaign that has been marked by theatrics on both sides.

Poroshenko's campaign team said on April 17 that supporters will be bussed in for free for the event, according to Interfax.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said a crowd of "up to 60,000" was expected to attend the debate, adding he would be discussing security matters with representatives of both candidates.

His comments on April 17 come after Ukrainian authorities announced they had captured a Russian military intelligence hit squad responsible for the attempted murder of a Ukrainian military spy ahead of the presidential runoff.

The issue of how to deal with Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014 and backs separatists in eastern Ukraine, is prominent ahead of the vote, with Poroshenko casting himself as the commander in chief Ukraine needs to defend the country.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, Interfax, and TASS
The Security Service of Ukraine claims to have captured a Russian military intelligence hit squad responsible for the attempted murder of a Ukrainian military spy in the run-up to a presidential election on 21 April.