Ukrainian security authorities detain suspected arsonists in Dnipro, Odesa

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), together with the National Police, has identified and detained two individuals allegedly acting on instructions from Russian intelligence services and carrying out arson attacks in different regions of the country.

Both suspects are residents who agreed to work for Russia in exchange for money, but instead of the promised payment, now face life imprisonment, Caliber.Az reports, citing the SBU.

The agency and the National Police uncovered two additional Russian agents involved in arson attacks in Dnipro and Odesa.

“In Dnipro, an FSB agent was exposed who set fire to an armoured evacuation tractor BTS-4 located at an Ukrzaliznytsia station intended for deployment to the front line. The suspect also attempted to destroy a mobile network base station using an inflammable mixture to cut off local subscribers from the network,” the post said.

It further reads, in Odesa, charges were brought against a 25-year-old repeat offender who had previously been convicted of theft but committed a new crime while on probation.

According to the case materials, the suspect monitored vehicles used by Ukrainian military personnel and then, coordinated by Russian intelligence services, set fire to the transport. His next assignment was to prepare a terrorist attack in the port city.

“For this purpose, Russians instructed him to assemble an improvised explosive device with remote activation. Law enforcement officers detained the agent ‘in the act’ near his residence immediately after the first arson attack on a vehicle of the Defence Forces,” the SBU statement noted.

The suspects are currently in custody without the right to bail and face life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov