Counter-intelligence of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) neutralized an agent-combat group of the Russian military intelligence (GRU) in Kharkiv. Criminals committed terrorist attacks and spied on units of the Defense Forces.
This is reported by SBU and the Office of the Prosecutor General.
In June of this year, the perpetrators blew up the car of a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — the Ukrainian defender was seriously injured. Extras tracked the parking place of the car in Kharkiv and planted an improvised explosive device under it.
According to the SBU counterintelligence, the group included four local residents: a software engineer from Kharkiv, a former military man, and two unemployed people.
Their activities were coordinated by a militant of the "special forces of the DPR", which fights against Ukraine on the eastern front and cooperates with the Russian GRU.
On his instructions, after blowing up the car of a Ukrainian soldier, the agents were preparing the next terrorist attack against the Defense Forces. To do this, they made another explosive device and tried to hide it in a cache prepared in advance.
At the same time, those involved were tasked with tracking down and derailing a railway train that was transporting military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the front line.
In addition, the men searched for locations of Ukrainian military deployments on the territory of Kharkiv and the region and transferred the collected data, making appropriate marks on the map.
One of the people involved was caught red-handed in a forest lane, where he tried to hide a box with an explosive device in a cache. Other agents were detained at their residential addresses. During the searches, they seized explosives, as well as mobile phones and computer equipment with evidence of crimes.
The investigators informed the detainees about suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- Part 2 of Art. 111 (treason committed under martial law);
- Part 1 of Art. 263 (illegal handling of explosives).
The issue of additional qualification of agentsʼ crimes under Art. 113 (sabotage) and 258 (terrorist act).
The perpetrators are in custody. They face life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
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