The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained two men — law enforcement officers believe they were preparing a terrorist attack near the Rivne district police department.
This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police, and the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office.
According to law enforcement, the suspects planned to leave an improvised explosive device (IED) disguised in a bag near the building and blow it up by calling a mobile phone that was connected to the explosive.
The terrorist attack was supposed to take place when there were many police officers and the perpetrators near the building. SBU notes that in this way the Russian special service wanted to kill the maximum number of police officers and ordinary citizens and at the same time eliminate the perpetrators of the terrorist attack.
SBU detained the men red-handed while they were trying to plant explosives. A bag with explosives and additional covert surveillance equipment with remote access for Russian special services was seized from the detainees. Both suspects are 19 years old, and they were recruited in a Telegram channel to find work.
Law enforcement officers also learned that upon arriving in Rivne, the men received from the Russians the geolocation of the cache from which they took the explosives. The suspects face up to 12 years in prison.
They are now deciding whether to charge them with a completed terrorist attack.
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