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SSU foils russia’s attempt to carry out large-scale sabotage in Kyiv region using minors (video)

The Security Service’s Counterintelligence Department has thwarted attempts by ruscists to exploit Ukrainian teenagers for sabotage.

According to the investigation, the russian intelligence operatives, posing as SSU personnel, used blackmail to force a 17-year-old Kyiv resident to set fire to a convoy of lorries belonging to a local logistics company.

The suspect was also instructed to purchase a pack of screws, hide it in a cache, and send the cache’s geolocation to his russian handler.

A 16-year-old local, who had also been recruited by the enemy under a false flag posing as SSU, was then to arrive at these coordinates.

The plan was for the teenager to retrieve the screws and scatter them on a road in the capital region to temporarily block lorries from passing.

However, the SSU foiled the enemy’s plan and detained the 17-year-old suspect after he set fire to several lorries and attempted to destroy a few more.

The investigation revealed that both youths had been separately recruited by the enemy via Telegram dating chats.

To recruit the minors, the enemy created fake accounts of girls with whom they became acquainted.

The ‘conversation partners’ then disappeared from the chat and were replaced by a russian intelligence operative who introduced himself as an SSU officer.

During the conversation, he told the minors that the girls had been ‘detained for treason’ and threatened to hold them accountable as accomplices.

To avoid these fabricated charges, the ruscist suggested that the teenagers cooperate by ‘assisting the investigation’.

The SSU has now notified the 17-year-old detainee of suspicion under Articles 15.2, 15.3 and 194 of the CCU (intentional destruction or damage to property by arson).

The suspect is in custody and faces up to ten years in prison. The investigation is ongoing.

The operation was carried out by the SSU Office in Kyiv and the Kyiv region under the procedural supervision of the Kyiv Region Prosecutor’s Office.

The Security Service of Ukraine urges the public to report any threats or attempts at recruitment by russian intelligence services immediately via the hotline: