Russian saboteur who was going to blow up several petrol stations detained

This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine.

As a result of a special operation, the SBU and the National Police detained a Russian saboteur. He was preparing to blow up two petrol stations in Kharkiv and other regions of Ukraine.

The saboteur was going to use homemade explosives, which he stored in a specially arranged cache in one of the forest areas of Kharkiv region.

According to the Russian military intelligence, blowing up fuel tanks at petrol stations should have resulted in numerous civilian casualties and spread panic in the border regions. Law enforcers detained the figure "on the hot" during the laying of explosives under a barrel of gas at one of Kharkiv petrol stations, - reported in the SBU.

It is noted that the explosive device, made of 2.5 kg of plastic and a clockwork mechanism with an electric detonator, was deactivated when the attacker was detained.

According to the investigation, the attacker was involved in a series of sabotage attacks in Kharkiv Region. Among them were the explosion of two local petrol stations and the blowing up of a railway station track.

The enemy saboteur turned out to be an ex-employee of the disbanded police - he had previously tried to be reinstated in his former position. The man was remotely recruited after the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.

The traitor's main task was sabotage aimed at destroying critical infrastructure and shaking up the internal situation in the border areas in north-eastern Ukraine. To carry out the undermining of Ukrainian facilities, he himself collected explosive devices in the flat of his mother, and then took them to a cache," the report said.

At the place of residence of the detainee and his close relatives conducted searches and found:

• almost 5kg of plastid;
• detonators;
• clock mechanism to the explosives;
• 2 live grenades F-1 and RGD-5;
• a revolver;
• almost 900,000 cash in hryvnia equivalent.

The detainee was reported on suspicion under Article 113 (sabotage) and Article 263 (illegal handling of weapons, ammunition or explosives) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The investigation to establish the traitor's other offences and to identify his likely accomplices is ongoing. They face life imprisonment.