Prosecutors said the Polish man was arrested and charged with planning to cooperate with Russia’s military intelligence services to aid a possible assassination of Volodymyr Zelensky.

A Polish man has been arrested on allegations of being ready to spy on behalf of Russia’s military intelligence services in an alleged plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, authorities said.

Polish prosecutors said in a statement Thursday that the man, identified as Pawel K, was allegedly tasked with collecting information about an airport in Poland used by Zelensky.

Pawel K is suspected of supplying information to Russian military intelligence and “helping the Russian special forces to plan a possible assassination attempt” against the Ukrainian leader, prosecutors said.

The statement said the suspect had stated he was “ready to act on behalf of the military intelligence services of the Russian Federation and established contact with Russian citizens directly involved in the war in Ukraine”.

The arrest was made on the basis of Ukrainian intelligence, prosecutors added.

Authorities did not specify whether the man actually passed any information on.

If convicted, the man could face up to eight years in prison. The suspect is in custody and the investigation is ongoing.

Ukrainian prosecutors had informed Poland about the activities, which had enabled them to gather “essential evidence” against the suspect, the statement added.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General Andriy Kostin said the suspect had been tasked with “gathering and transmitting to the aggressor state information about security at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport” in southeastern Poland.

Before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport was a small regional airport. But it has since become a key hub in the vast operation to supply Western military aid to Ukraine.

Military and cargo aircraft from the United States and across Europe regularly fly in and out of the airport to deliver supplies to waiting trucks that make the 100km (62 miles) journey to the Ukrainian border.

The airport is under the control of US troops. Zelensky frequently passes through the airport on his trips abroad. It is also used by other foreign dignitaries, such as US President Joe Biden, and aid convoys heading to Ukraine.

“This case underscores the persistent threat Russia poses not only to Ukraine and Ukrainians but to the entire free world,” Kostin wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “The Kremlin’s criminal regime… organises and carries out sabotage operations on the territory of other sovereign states.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski commended the work of his country’s special services and prosecutors in the operation as well as cooperation with neighbouring Ukraine.

Last year, Polish authorities said they had arrested a group of foreign citizens on suspicion of spying for Russia. They were reported to have installed dozens of cameras, including some around Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport.