The Security Service of Ukraine jointly with the National Police have identified 497 individuals who set fire to the vehicles of military servicemen, facilities on Ukrainian railways, as well as installed improvised explosives, plotting terrorist attacks on the lives of the military and police.

The SSU First Deputy Head Serhii Andrushchenko informed about this during a joint briefing with the National Police Chief Ivan Vyhivskyi.

‘The SSU and the National Police detain criminals literally ‘in hot pursuit’ 24/7. And there is not a single case where we have not found the perpetrator. Since 2024 and as of today, the SSU, together with the National Police, has identified 497 people who committed such crimes,’ said Serhii Andrushchenko.

The SSU is doing everything to be ahead of the curve and proactively counter the intelligence and sabotage activities of the russian special services, which have recently stepped up their attempts to carry out sabotage and terrorist attacks near and in the buildings of Territorial Recruitment Centers.

‘We understand that the aggressor does not choose these targets by chance. After all, the war is not only at the front. The SSU destroys the enemy not just on the frontline but also in the rear – we expose russia’s agents and traitors inside our country,’ said Serhii Andrushchenko.

According to him, the russian intelligence services are trying to destabilize the situation by terrorist attacks against the military, to discredit the activity of Territorial Recruitment Centers, disrupt mobilization, sow distrust in the Defence Forces, etc.

The adversary has also begun to use a new tactic: they are remotely detonating the improvised explosive device while the person who plants it is still nearby. In this way, the russians eliminate the perpetrator, who is unaware of such intentions, in order to get rid of the witness and not pay him.

‘russian special services simply use these people as expendable material for their purposes. The FSB doesn’t care what happens to them after the task is completed,’ emphasized Andrushchenko.

The SSU Deputy Chief said that the russian intelligence recruits perpetrators for bombings through messengers and online groups for quick money. Young people or the unemployed often agree to cooperate and are later informed by their handlers of the location for the attack and the place where the improvised explosive device is hidden, which is prepared by another group of agents.

‘We establish the entire chain: from recruitment to preparation of the crime. As a rule, we work proactively and detain criminals when they take out explosives from a cache,’ said Serhii Andrushchenko.

He stressed that the bombings of the TRC buildings and other facilities are serious crimes which the Criminal Code of Ukraine classifies as a terrorist act. They are punishable by 15 years in prison or life imprisonment.

To counter the recruitment of citizens, in mid-December the SSU launched an official chatbot called Burn the FSB-man in Telegram. This chatbot, as well as the SSU hotline, can be used to report suspicious contacts from the russian intelligence services. As of today, the chatbot has already received almost 2,300 reports about recruitment attempts.