Kathrine Frich
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has arrested a network of Russian agents accused of planning and carrying out sabotage missions across southern and western Ukraine.
The suspects, who filmed their attacks and reported them directly to handlers in Russia, were caught in coordinated raids in Odessa and Lviv.
Eight Russian agents detained
The SBU, working with the National Police, detained eight Russian agents in southern Ukraine, along with two more individuals in the west who had been manipulated into committing arson.
The suspects were all Ukrainian citizens aged between 19 and 73, recruited remotely under promises of “easy money.”
Recruitment under false pretences
According to investigators, Russian operatives recruited locals through encrypted messaging apps, presenting the missions as harmless or even patriotic.
“Two others were deceived by Russians posing as SBU officers,” officials said.
Many of those arrested had no idea they were assisting the enemy until their arrest.
Odessa suspect caught ‘red-handed’
In Odessa, officers apprehended an unemployed man attempting to plant an improvised explosive device (IED) under a railway line.
The device had been taken from a hidden cache prepared by Russian handlers.
He was arrested on the spot before the bomb could be detonated.
Coordinated arson attacks on railway infrastructure
Seven others in the Odessa region were found to have set fire to relay cabinets along railway lines in an effort to disrupt Ukrainian military transport.
The saboteurs recorded the fires on their phones as proof of success, then sent the videos to their Russian supervisors.
Lviv: teenagers tricked into burning buildings
In western Ukraine, two 19-year-old residents of Lviv were discovered after setting fire to a post office and the entrances of residential buildings.
They told investigators they believed they were part of a “special Ukrainian mission.”
In reality, they were carrying out orders from Russian intelligence officers posing as SBU agents.
Russians posed as Ukrainian intelligence officers
The SBU revealed that Russian handlers used fake identities and official-looking documents to convince recruits they were acting in Ukraine’s interest.
“According to the legend provided by the enemy, the targets were allegedly sheltering ‘criminals’ who were acting against Ukraine,” the agency said.
Manipulated into treason
The case shows how Russian operatives exploit confusion, economic hardship, and misinformation to turn ordinary citizens into unwilling collaborators.
Most suspects were either unemployed or socially vulnerable, easy targets for online recruitment and manipulation.
Counterintelligence unmasks wider network
SBU counterintelligence teams are now investigating links between the Odessa-Lviv group and other cells uncovered earlier in the year.
Recent arrests in Zaporizhia revealed that Moscow has been coordinating acts of sabotage and terrorism through sleeper agents across Ukraine’s major cities.
Defector in Zaporizhia linked to Russian recruiters
In a related case, a Ukrainian defector recruited by Russia was caught planning a terrorist attack in central Zaporizhia.
Authorities believe the same Russian intelligence unit that managed the Lviv and Odessa saboteurs may have been behind this plot as well.
SBU vows to dismantle all enemy networks
Ukraine’s Security Service said it will continue its counter-sabotage campaign across the country.
“We are identifying and neutralizing anyone who works for the enemy,” an SBU spokesperson said.
The agency has warned citizens to be wary of suspicious job offers or messages claiming to come from security services.
This article is made and published by Kathrine Frich, which may have used AI in the preparation
