The counterintelligence officers of the Security Service of Ukraine apprehended two women acting on behalf of Russian intelligence, plotting terror attacks in the Khmelnytskyi and Dnipropetrovsk regions. According to the investigation, both suspects were recruited while seeking easy earnings through Telegram channels. They received geolocations of caches containing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) prepped by the enemy.

One of the detainees, a 19-year-old resident of Pavlohrad, attempted to detonate an official vehicle of a Ukrainian soldier by hiding an IED under its wheel. She set up a camera on a tree to capture the explosion. The second detainee, a 16-year-old college student from Khmelnytskyi, was preparing to blow up a railway track intended for a military cargo train. She equipped the site with a remote-access camera to monitor military movements.

The arrests occurred while the suspects were preparing for the attacks. Explosives and smartphones containing evidence of contacts with Russian agents were seized on-site. The detainees were charged under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• part 2 of article 15, part 2 of article 258 (attempt to commit a terrorist act by a group of individuals in conspiracy);
• part 3 of article 114-2 (unauthorized dissemination of information about the movement or displacement of the Armed Forces during martial law).

The offenders face up to 12 years in prison with property confiscation. The operation was conducted by SBU personnel under the supervision of regional prosecutors.