Counterintelligence of the Security Service of Ukraine has neutralized another Russian agent network in western Ukraine. During a series of operations, three members of the Russian cell were exposed. They had been preparing caches containing components for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) intended for terrorist attacks in the region.
According to case materials, Russia assigned tasks separately to each of the three individuals: a 20-year-old man from Kharkiv, as well as a 16-year-old schoolgirl and a 17-year-old boy from Rivne region. After recruiting the minors, the Rusian forces used them “in the dark,” disguising the assignments as courier jobs.
The investigation found that all three individuals came to the attention of Russian intelligence officers through Telegram channels advertising “easy money.”
In exchange for the promise of “quick earnings,” they set up caches containing IED components, which were later to be collected by potential perpetrators of terrorist attacks.
For example, the minor girl received the geolocation of a cache from her handler in Russia. From that location, she retrieved electric detonators for explosives and re-hid them at another “address.”
The Russians assured the girl that she was dealing not with bomb components but with ordinary “radio antennas.”
Another individual — a resident of Kharkiv — followed Russian instructions by traveling to western Ukraine, retrieving an antipersonnel mine from a cache, removing the plastic explosive from it, dividing it into parts, concealing them in juice boxes, and placing them in a new hiding spot.
Later, the 17-year-old boy from Rivne region collected the explosive material and transferred it to various caches designated for him by Russian intelligence.
SSU counterintelligence uncovered all three individuals at the early stage of their subversive activity, documented each of them, and preemptively neutralized the Russian caches.
Investigations regarding all individuals involved — who were drawn by the Russsian forces into criminal activity against the Ukrainian state — are ongoing.
