Kyiv police detain woman suspected of planting explosive under National Guard soldier's car
Editor's note: This story was updated after Ukrainian law enforcement detained a woman suspected of blowing up a military vehicle.
Kyiv police and the Security Service of Ukraine detained a 24-year-old woman suspected of blowing up a car belonging to a Ukrainian National Guard soldier, local authorities said on Jan. 5.
The explosion occurred on Jan. 4 in Kyiv's northern Obolon district around 10:30 a.m., according to a Kyiv Independent reporter on the ground.
A 30-year-old soldier, who was opening the trunk at the time of the explosion, suffered mine-blast trauma and shrapnel wounds to his leg. A nearby woman sustained injuries to her right hand and bruises to her face, the city's prosecutor's office said.
The attack has been classified as a terrorist act, and she faces up to 10 years in prison, the statement read.
A court has ordered the suspect held without bail for 60 days.
The woman allegedly carried out the attack on instructions of Russian special services after being recruited on social media.
The suspect reportedly made a homemade explosive device and placed it under the soldier's Land Rover. Russian operatives promised to pay the Kyiv resident, who lives in the Obolon district, $1,500 for carrying out the attack, the police said.
The detainee may also be connected to the December arson of a military vehicle, according to the police.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian service members and law enforcement officers have repeatedly been targeted in terrorist attacks, including operations attributed to Russian special services.
Another National Guard soldier was killed in an explosion in Kyiv on Dec. 11, which law enforcement agencies also classified as a terrorist act.
