The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and the National Police of Ukraine have dismantled a network of agents led by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), which was planning a series of terrorist attacks in Kiev and Zhytomyr, Ukrinform reported, citing the SSU press center, BTA reported.
As part of preventive actions, law enforcement agencies detained two women who were making homemade bombs intended for attacks in busy areas of Kiev and Zhytomyr.
Investigators established that the preparations for the explosions were carried out by a 24-year-old servicewoman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and her 25-year-old girlfriend. Both were part of the FSB agent network.
The women were recruited by Russian handlers through a Telegram channel advertising “easy money.”
After being recruited, the agents received funds from the FSB to rent an apartment in Zhytomyr, where they set up a secret laboratory to produce improvised explosive devices according to instructions from Russian security services. They purchased components needed to create explosives from local shops and markets, visiting the sites separately and changing their clothes regularly to avoid detection. After assembling the homemade bombs, the agents were supposed to receive geolocations from the FSB indicating where the planned attacks would be carried out and where to plant the explosives.
The FSB officers identified the suspects, documented their criminal activities, and arrested them while they were in the process of making the first explosive device.
During the searches, investigators found bomb components as well as mobile phones containing evidence of their cooperation with the Russian services.
The FSB informed the suspects that they had been charged with preparing a terrorist act by a group of individuals acting in a premeditated conspiracy. The women are in custody. They could face sentences of up to 12 years in prison and confiscation of property.
In December, law enforcement authorities detained three members of the same network after they carried out an attack in the Darnytsia district of the Ukrainian capital, Ukrinform notes.