Russian Agents Detained in Odesa for Plotting Assassinations of Ukrainian Soldiers

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has arrested three agents of Russia’s FSB who were planning to kill Ukrainian military personnel in Odesa using improvised explosive devices.

According to the SSU press service, the intended targets were special forces officers of the SSU and soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine involved in combat operations in southern Ukraine.

The hostile agents were preparing remote-controlled explosions targeting the vehicles and homes of Ukrainian service members and their families.

“In this way, the Russian aggressors hoped not only to eliminate military personnel but also to spread panic among Ukraine’s civilian population,” the SSU said.

Initially, the agents spent a long time surveilling the residences of Ukrainian defenders and the locations where their vehicles were parked.

Later, they received coordinates from the FSB to a hidden cache, from which they retrieved two improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

“The perpetrators planned to plant the bombs near the entrances to the apartments of two service members of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. After that, the terrorists were supposed to retrieve new IEDs from hidden caches to blow up the vehicles of their next ‘targets,’” the Security Service of Ukraine said.

It is reported that the men were detained while they were transporting the explosive devices to the homes of Ukrainian military personnel.

Smartphones were also confiscated from the suspects; they were used to coordinate their actions with the Russian security service.

“The enemy’s tasks were carried out by three local FSB agents – a 36-year-old draft evader and two accomplices: a deserter and a member of a civic organization involved in maintaining public order,” the Security Service of Ukraine reported.

The detainees are currently in custody and have been formally charged with high treason. The Russian agents face life imprisonment with confiscation of property.