Ukraine accuses Russian spies of orchestrating bomb attacks on army offices
5 February 2025, 19:42
Ukraine has blamed Russian spies for several bomb attacks on its army bases in recent weeks.
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One person was killed and four more injured in an attack on a conscription centre in the western Khmelnytskyi region on Wednesday.
Last week, a conscription officer was murdered at a petrol station while a young man was blown up at a conscription centre in the northwestern city of Rivne on Saturday.
According to Ukrainian officials, the man was recruited by Russian spies who detonated the blast remotely.
The incident injured eight Ukrainian servicemen.
Read more: Pro-Putin paramilitary leader killed by bomb blast in luxury Moscow apartment
National police chief Ivan Vyhivskyi said: "We... understand this is a deliberate attack by Russian special services that aims to create a false opinion in society, destabilise the situation and create a negative attitude towards the security and defence forces."
Nine such attacks have been orchestrated by Russian spies this year alone, Mr Vyhivskyi, including three against police officers.
No evidence was provided in Vyhivskyi’s statement.
He explained Russian spies were recruiting young men of "low social responsibility", offering them money in exchange for carrying out the attacks.
"The Russians in most cases do not pay the money to these people. Moreover, these last two cases indicate they liquidate the people they recruit," Mr Vyhivskyi added.
It comes after a a pro-Russian paramilitary leader from Eastern Ukraine was killed in a bomb blast in the lobby of a luxury apartment building in Moscow.
The fatal attack targeted Armen Sarkisyan, a Russian sympathiser who has been accused of supporting the country's war in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk.
Russian authorities have launched a criminal case and are investigating the explosion.
