The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the police detained a married couple suspected of producing an explosive used in a Dnipro terrorist attack last December on Russia's behalf, the SBU said on Jan. 9.
One person was killed and four injured, including two police officers, in an explosion in the central-eastern city of Dnipro on Dec. 14, 2024, near a military enlistment office.
The newly detained suspects, a 33-year-old soldier who went AWOL (absent without leave) and his 25-year-old wife, were looking for "easy money" and were recruited via the Telegram messenger by Russian intelligence services, the SBU said.
They are believed to have acted separately from the suspected perpetrator of the attack, a 37-year-old resident who was detained within hours of the explosion and has also been accused of acting on Russia's behalf.
The married couple made the improvised explosive device based on Russian intelligence's instructions and stashed them in a hiding place. Subsequently, they watched the terrorist attack being carried out and went into hiding, the SBU said.
Law enforcement officers detained the suspects at their new addresses and seized mobile phones and clothes containing evidence of their acts. The two have been charged with terrorism and face life in prison.
Russia has been accused of plotting numerous terrorist attacks in Ukraine in an effort to sow panic and undermine the country's resistance amid the full-scale invasion.
Kateryna Denisova
(Updated: )
