A saboteur was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Chornomorsk

The Black Sea City Court of Odesa Oblast found a native of Norilsk, Russian Federation—who is a citizen of Ukraine—guilty of sabotage and sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

This was reported in the court’s verdict. 

On September 2, 2025, at 11:03 p.m., the defendant purchased an incendiary mixture at a gas station, and then, on September 3, 2025, at approximately 4:35 a.m., set fire to a battery cabinet at the 15-kilometer mark of the “Ksenievo–Odesa-Zakhidna” railway section. 

During the court hearing, the defendant did not plead guilty to the alleged criminal offenses and testified that in late August 2025, an unknown user on the Telegram messaging app offered him a quick way to make money, specifically to set fire to battery and relay cabinets along the railroad. In exchange, the unknown man offered to pay between 100 and 300 U.S. dollars. Not all of their correspondence has been preserved, as the employer deleted it. He purchased a lighter at a gas station. At the end of the street where he lives in the village of Malodolynske, near the Ksenieve station, there are two cabinets on the railroad tracks. One hummed like a transformer; the other did not.

He sent photos of the cabinets to his employer, who instructed him to set fire to one of them of his own choosing. The defendant chose the one that wasn’t working—that is, the one that wasn’t humming; it was completely disconnected and empty. He wanted to deceive the person who had ordered the arson. He also explained that if the cabinet had been operational, he would have been electrocuted when he opened it with an iron pipe. On September 3, 2025, around 3–4 a.m., he walked to the battery cabinet on his own. The cabinet was made of metal. On the left door, he taped a piece of paper with the words “414 TSOC” written on it in advance. He does not know what this inscription means. That’s what the person he was communicating with on Telegram told him to do. He then used an iron pipe to break the lock and open the cabinet.

There were nobatteries in the cabinet; it was empty. There were just two plastic bottles filled with liquid, and that was it. He poured an accelerant mixture—which he’d bought at a gas station—inside the cabinet and lit a match. He didn’t put any branches or anything else inside. It burned for 1–2 minutes and then went out. The only thing damaged in the cabinet was a wooden shelf. While doing this, he recorded a 30–40-second video. After that, he left. He didn’t see the sign about criminal liability on the cabinet. He took the metal pipe he’d used to break into the cabinet with him, but it fell out along the way. He wasn’t paid for the arson; he waited a couple of days. At first, he thought they were scammers. A person on Telegram told him that setting that cabinet on fire wasn’t enough and suggested he set a car at the regional recruitment center on fire. After that, he decided not to reply and to save all the messages he received so he could show them to the Security Service of Ukraine, which he had intended to contact but didn’t have time to do so because he was detained.

When they came to search his home, they immediately asked where the batteries were; they didn’t find them during the search. He explained that he hadn’t stolen the batteries—they weren’t there—and that he physically couldn’t have carried them out by himself; they’re heavy—one battery weighs about 20 kilograms, and there were seven in total, which comes to 140 kilograms. A car had been parked near his house for several days, and people were asking questions about it. He thought it was a TCC car or something like that. A neighbor reported that a young man in a gray electric car—model unknown—had asked him about it. Later, people from that car arrested him.

Кирило Бойко