SBU detains 3 men accused of working for Russia's FSB, plotting bomb attacks on Ukrainian military in Odesa
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained three men accused of working for Moscow's Federal Security Service (FSB) and preparing terrorist attacks on Odesa, the agency said on Jan. 30.
According to the SBU, the men, a 36-year-old draft dodger, a deserter, and a representative of a public order protection NGO, were allegedly recruited by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
The suspects targeted special forces of the SBU and Ukraine's military involved in combat operations on the southern front, planning to detonate cars and apartments belonging to Ukrainian soldiers and their families in Odesa, the SBU said.
"The terrorist attacks were to be carried out by remotely activating homemade bombs. In this way, the Russians hoped not only to eliminate the military, but also to spread panic among the civilian population of Ukraine," the SBU wrote on Telegram.
It added the suspects spent "a long time" tracking the whereabouts of Ukrainian soldiers and the parking spaces of their cars. They then received coordinates from the FSB for a cache, from which they took two homemade explosive devices and planned to place both bombs at the entrance to an apartment belonging to two servicemen.
The SBU officers acted preemptively and detained the suspects on their way to the residences of Ukrainian military, the SBU said, adding that at the site it seized homemade explosive devices and phones used to coordinate their actions with Russian intelligence officers.
According to the SBU, the detainees were suspected of violating Part 2 of Article 111 of Ukraine's Criminal Code (treason committed under martial law). The suspects are being held in custody without the right to bail, facing life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
