According to the indictment filed in federal court in Florida, Ryan Wesley Routh plotted to assassinate Donald Trump and even attempted to obtain a Stinger missile from Ukraine a month before his arrest. He communicated via the encrypted messaging app Signal with someone he believed could help him obtain Ukrainian weapons and rocket launchers.
Routh, known for his pro-Ukraine sentiments, said he was ready to die for Ukraine. Now, the Russians and at least one Hungarian analyst say he could have been helped by the Ukrainian president’s inner circle.
According to Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, the threads of the case lead all the way back to Volodymyr Zelensky and his circle, writes Magyar Nemzet.
“American idiots are buying weapons from (far-right nationalist) Bandera’s supporters to kill their president! Isn’t it time to punish the real perpetrators of the assassination, the Bankova (presidential office) coke snuffers?” he asked, referring to Zelensky.
Of course, Russia has a strong incentive to make such claims, as they could serve as a wedge between Ukraine and the Trump White House. However, there is no denying Routh had a deep connection to Ukraine, and may have even had connections to Ukrainian intelligence.
The Russians are not the only ones raising questions either, with a Hungarian security expert also alluding to the possibility Routh may have had support from Ukraine. Notably, Ukraine has a long history of conducting assassinations on enemies of the country.
“The Ukrainian secret services changed their profile after the war began, as we saw the assassinations they carried out from Moscow to the immediate vicinity of the front line,” József Horváth, security policy expert and director of the Sovereignty Protection Research Institute, told Magyar Nemzet.
“They eliminated Russian generals, from Dugin’s daughter to the general of special computer intelligence and one of the commanders-in-chief of the missile program, and even wanted to attack Putin himself, because the Kremlin had already been the victim of a drone attack,” he added.
Horváth pointed out that after 2022, a separate directorate was established within the Ukrainian secret services for so-called soft targets, which was specifically characterized by the activity of Kirillo Budanov’s military intelligence.
The expert also said that these services not only carry out these operations, but may also be involved in illegal arms smuggling. According to the paper, Ukraine, which has been at war for three years, is now the world’s largest illegal arms supplier. Its arms trade is flourishing, which is increasing tensions in conflict regions around the world.
“Organized crime and (Ukraine’s) secret services work sometimes hand in hand,” said Horváth.
“So, it is not simply a matter of Ukrainian organized crime, Ukrainian secret services and the Ukrainian state profiting from the huge profits of the illegal arms trade, but in some cases we may even go so far as to say that these actors wanted to assert their interests by eliminating Donald Trump from the American presidential election campaign, since he has been a pro-peace figure from the beginning,” he continued.
“This could be a process on the part of the Ukrainians, if you like, on the part of Zelensky, in which their interests can be felt, so it cannot be ruled out that if such a person comes forward to solve this, he will receive help with a Ukrainian rocket launcher,” Horváth concluded.
According to court documents, “Routh sought to purchase the devices online from an associate Routh believed to be a Ukrainian with access to military weapons. The two had discussed the July 2024 attempt to assassinate President Trump that occurred in Pennsylvania, with Routh writing ‘I wish’ via encrypted messaging app, before the two began discussing Routh’s purchase of a weapon in August,” the court filing read.
“To that end, Routh told his associate to ‘send me an rpg [rocket propelled grenade] or stinger and I will see what we can do… [Trump] is not good for Ukraine,’ which led the two to discuss Routh’s purchase options, with Routh asking about the price and whether his associate could ‘ship it to me????’ before then explaining his intent: ‘I need equipment so that Trump cannot get elected,'” the filing included.
The verdict
Notably, Routh did not end up obtaining a Stinger missile from Ukraine. While Ukraine may have had a vested interest in Trump not being elected, taking out a former president would be an incredible gambit for the country, making it unlikely. Even if such a plan was even considered, it may have only involved rogue elements of the Ukrainian services and not an organized plot by anyone with real authority.
The verdict? There is a lack of any hard evidence that Ukraine had anything to do with the attempt on Trump’s life, and ultimately, Routh never received any weaponry from Ukraine.
As for concerns that Routh was not acting alone regarding his attempt on Trump’s life, Routh may have had outside support here, but again, there is no evidence he had any help from Ukraine in this regard either. Experts have raised questions about how Routh got so close to the former president at the time, and even more importantly, how he knew where Trump would be at the time. Whether an insider tipped Routh off about Trump’s location has long been a matter of speculation. However, any organized effort to kill Trump, if it existed at all, was not necessarily a “plot” from Ukraine. In the end, it could have involved someone else entirely.
In other words, treat such allegations from Russia with a grain of salt.
