Poland charges man with plans to help Russia in possible Zelenskiy attack

WARSAW, April 18 (Reuters) - A Polish citizen has been arrested in Poland and charged with plans to cooperate with Russian foreign intelligence services in preparation for a possible attempt to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, prosecutors said on Thursday.

A hub for Western military supplies to Ukraine, Poland says it has become a major target of Russian spies, accusing Moscow and its ally Belarus of trying to destabilise it.

The man who has been arrested, identified as Pawel K., was caught on Wednesday thanks to cooperation between Polish and Ukrainian services, both countries said. If convicted, he could face up to eight years in prison.

"The findings of the investigation show that the suspect Pawel K. declared his readiness to act for the military intelligence of the Russian Federation," the Polish prosecution said in a statement.

The suspect's tasks included collecting and providing information about security at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, southeast Poland, which among other things would help Russian special services plan a possible assassination of Zelenskiy, the prosecution said.

Zelenskiy, leading his country's effort to fend off Russia's two-year-old invasion, said last autumn that security services have foiled at least five Russian plots to assassinate him.

"This case underscores the persistent threat Russia poses not only to Ukraine and Ukrainians but to the entire free world," Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin wrote on social media platform X.

Separately, Germany authorities announced on Thursday that two German-Russian nationals had been arrested on suspicion of plotting sabotage attacks, including on U.S. military facilities, in what officials called a serious effort to undermine military support for Ukraine. (Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk in Warsaw and Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk Editing by Frances Kerry)