SBU arrests two Russian-led saboteurs planning terror act in Kyiv

Source: Ukraine’s Security Service

The Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police have arrested two saboteurs hired by Russia’s military intelligence, the GRU, who were plotting a deadly attack in Kyiv.

The Russian-led agents were set to detonate a homemade explosive device in a busy public area in Kyiv, targeting civilians aiming to ‘stoke fear and panic’ among the city residents.

The plot started to shape up when Russian intelligence recruited a 20-year-old lady from Zaporizhzhia who was looking for quick money through odd jobs channels on Telegram app.

Soon she received detailed instructions on how to make an explosive device. The plan would see her  plant two mobile phones wired with plastic explosives as detonators in a secret cache somewhere in Kyiv. The exact location of the cache would only be revealed just before the attack was set to take place.

The sabotage plan was led by a Russian GRU officer based in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia.  The lady was joined by a 26-year-old partner.

Before heading to Kyiv, the saboteurs were  tasked with a “trial run” by their Russian handlers: they were ordered to torch several Ukrainian military vehicles in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukrainian security team swooped in as the Russian agents attempted to set fire to a Ukrainian military vehicle in the southern combat zone. With the tools of their trade and damning evidence on their phones, the would-be saboteurs were promptly arrested.

Now, facing charges of high treason during wartime, the pair could be looking at life sentences with no chance of bail.