Eight saboteurs detained in Odesa

The Security Service of Ukraine's counterintelligence and the National Police have detained eight people suspected of committing sabotage on the railroad.

According to the press service of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office, the suspects set fire to relay cabinets, damaged signal systems, and one even tried to blow up a railroad track.

Among the detainees are brothers from Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district, two young men from Podilsk, a pensioner from Izmail, and residents of Berezivskyi and Odesa districts. The youngest participant is only 15 years old.

According to the investigation, each of the suspects received tasks via the Telegram messenger. The perpetrators bought incendiary mixtures, set fire to the agreed objects and sent photo and video reports to the customers as proof of the completed task.

In particular, from July to September of this year, the suspects damaged relay cabinets near the Ksenievo station, near the village of Brytivka, as well as on the Raukhivka-Serbka and Podilsk-Chubivka lines. The episode in Izmail was particularly threatening, where a 73-year-old man planted explosives on a railroad track on the instructions of the Russian Federation's special services.

Depending on the crimes committed, the suspects are charged with sabotage and completed attempted sabotage. At the request of prosecutors, all the saboteurs are in custody.

Earlier, the Peresypskyi District Court of Odesa sentenced the saboteur to seven years in prison with confiscation of property. The man set fire to a relay cabinet of Ukrzaliznytsia. Also in August, prosecutors of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office sent to court an indictment against two men on charges of high treason, sabotage, intentional damage to a critical infrastructure facility, and illegal handling of weapons and explosives.

Кирило Бойко