Law enforcement officers have detained four Ukrainian citizens on suspicion of preparing a series of murders of military and public figures ordered by the Russian Federation.
This was reported by the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
According to the investigation, the group of four people acted under the coordination of an employee of the Russian General Staff. His identity has already been established by the SBU officers. He defined the goals, assigned roles, and supervised the training.
To recruit the suspects, the Russian involved a resident of Kherson, whom he met during the occupation of the city in 2022. After the city was de-occupied, she fled to the Russian Federation.
The groupʼs targets were commanders of units of the National Guard, the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They planned to plant improvised explosive devices under military vehicles. They planned to eliminate one Ukrainian defender with firearms near his place of service.
The main executors of the Russian order turned out to be a recidivist recruited by the enemy, who had already been brought to justice for robbery, and his accomplice from Zaporizhzhia.
Other suspects include the director of a private security firm, who provided the perpetrators with a car to escape from the scene of the planned terrorist attack, as well as a law enforcement officer from the Dnipropetrovsk region, who monitored departmental databases and was supposed to report to Russian military intelligence in the event of "confirmation" of the liquidation of a military person.
During the searches, weapons, replacement SIM cards, and smartphones with evidence of work for Russia were seized from the suspects.
The group was detained on the eve of preparations to assassinate the commander of one of the volunteer formations in Kyiv. They were informed of suspicion of treason, attempted premeditated murder for hire, and illegal actions with information. The perpetrators face from 10 years of imprisonment to life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
The organizers, who are in the Russian Federation, are additionally charged with attempted sabotage.
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