This was reported by the SSU press service and the Office of the Prosecutor General.
As a result of a multi-stage special operation in the capital, agents of Russian intelligence who were installing explosive devices in construction hypermarkets of a well-known network and near one of the cafes were detained. These same agents were preparing terrorist attacks in Lviv.
The Security Service informs that homemade explosive devices were disguised as tea packaging. They consisted of a timer, detonator, and plastic explosive with an igniter mixture intended to cause massive fires.
“According to the plan of the Russian special services, the explosive device was supposed to detonate during peak hours of hypermarket attendance to cause maximum harm to the civilian population. Additionally, they planned to place it among easily flammable materials so that such a fire could not be quickly extinguished”, the statement said.
Another terrorist attack was planned near a popular café in Kyiv. Russian agents wanted to plant explosive devices in a parked car nearby.
Thus, according to the SSU, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) aimed to destabilize the situation in Ukraine and send a signal on the symbolic day of May 9 about the alleged presence of a Russian underground in Kyiv awaiting the arrival of the “Russian world”.
The Security Service’s counterintelligence established that the coordinator of the RF terrorist attacks was a GRU employee Yuriy Sizov, who serves in military unit No. 92154.
“He personally gave instructions to recruited agents and even recorded a video instruction on how to install an explosive device in one of the stores of this network in the Moscow region”, the SSU reports.
The Security Service had been monitoring his activities for a long time and documented the actions of his agents. In particular, Yuriy Sizov was also responsible for conducting sabotage in Ukraine, which was supposed to take place in Lviv region in February 2024. Then, the SSU also preempted and prevented the explosions.
“At present, the Security Service has identified the entire chain of this network, including intelligence and combat groups, smugglers who delivered explosives from the territory of the Russian Federation, and the direct perpetrators of the terrorist act: they were caught red-handed when they were installing explosive devices in the third hypermarket”, the statement said.
Currently, the detainees have been informed of the suspicion of committing their crimes, including under such articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine as: Art. 111 (state treason); Art. 113 (sabotage); Art. 258 (terrorist act). They face life imprisonment.
The Prosecutor General’s Office added that the captured agents of Russian intelligence were also preparing terrorist attacks in Lviv.
According to the investigation, suspects assigned by a representative of the Russian special services were supposed to plant explosive devices at one of the defense enterprises in Lviv. There, law enforcement officers found 4 homemade explosive devices.
Another 15 explosive devices were disguised as food in Kyiv, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.
Photo: SSU