The Security Service’s Counterintelligence Department has now foiled the fourth terrorist attack that the russian intelligence had been planning in Rivne since the start of 2026.

This time, the ruscists attempted to blow up an entire unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces whilst the personnel were being transported to the permanent base.

To carry out the terrorist attack, the enemy recruited a student from Kyiv, who planted an improvised explosive device under the bus carrying the Ukrainian soldiers.

Opposite the car park, the agent set up a mobile phone camera, disguised in a juice carton, with remote access for the russian operatives.

Using this video trap, the russians hoped to monitor the soldiers boarding the bus and blow it up whilst it was en route to its destination.

The SSU foiled the enemy’s plan in time, defused the explosive device and detained the agent at the city coach station as he was hurriedly attempting to leave for Kyiv after planting the device, to go into hiding.

A smartphone was seized from the suspect, which he had used to report back to his handler on the explosives planted at the site of the planned terrorist attack.

According to the investigation, the perpetrator is a student at one of the capital’s universities. He was spotted by the russian intelligence whilst seeking ‘easy’ money on Telegram.

After the recruitment, the russians sent him to Rivne to prepare the detonation of a vehicle carrying Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel.

Upon arriving in the city, the agent settled into a rented flat and later received the coordinates of a cache, from which he retrieved the IED.

It has been established that the explosive was reinforced with two glass bottles containing flammable liquid to increase its destructive power.

SSU investigators have notified the detainee of suspicion under Articles 15.2 and 258.2 of the CCU (completed attempt to commit a terrorist act).

The suspect is in custody without bail and faces up to 12 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Earlier, in Rivne, the Security Service of Ukraine foiled a series of terrorist attacks which the russian intelligence services had been planning since the start of this year in a park area and near administrative buildings downtown.

The operation was carried out by the SSU Office in the Rivne region under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor’s Office.