The SBU investigators served a notice of suspicion of committing a terrorist attack to a resident of Donetsk region who planned to activate the explosive device in Kharkiv city.

On 17 February, 2020, the offender laid a self-made explosive device, composed of a hand grenade, at the mall entrance. On the same night, the explosive was found by the guards of the mall and deactivated by the National Police explosion technicians.

The SBU identified the bomber even though he left no trace evidence at the crime scene. The attacker also took a number of conspiracy measures: he was living in someone else's name, used multiple sets of forged documents, was constantly changing his residence and state license plates on his car.

On 5 March, the SBU jointly with the National Police under the legal supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office of Kharkiv region detained the offender in Boryspil city. He tried to escape on his car and threatened to use a weapon.

During the searches in the offender’s residence in Kyiv city, the law enforcement seized the carabine Fort-205, RGD-5 grenade, almost 200 ammo of different caliber to the machine gun and pistol, the smoke bomb. The SBU officers also found the forged documents with offender’s photo, 4 state license plates and electronic devices for reading car alarm codes.

The SBU established that the offender has been put on the ‘wanted list’ for several years and was hiding from the law enforcement agencies due to committing a number of other crimes, including involvement in the activities of illegal armed groups, vehicle hijacking, etc.

The pre-trial investigation initiated under the Art. 258 and Art. 263 of the criminal Code of Ukraine is ongoing.