Fireworks were launched for money in Odesa during the Russian attack

In Odesa, police exposed two men who had launched fireworks on request during a missile strike on the city.

This was reported by the press service of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Odesa region.

According to law enforcement officials, on January 31, during a rocket attack on Odesa, two previously convicted men from the Kyiv district, aged 37 and 48, deliberately launched fireworks in crowded places. The pyrotechnics were activated at sports grounds near educational institutions on Lustdorf Road and Semiia Hlodan Street, ignoring martial law, air raid warning and real explosions from enemy missiles.

The police investigative team found remnants of pyrotechnics at the crime scenes - boxes of fireworks for 30 volleys. Law enforcement officers found out that the younger of the men had received an offer via messenger to set off fireworks in a crowded place for 4,000 hryvnias, film it and send it to the customer. He engaged an acquaintance to implement the plan.

The men completed the task and sent a "report" with fireworks to the customer, but never received the promised reward.

The police gathered evidence confirming that the actions of both men qualify as hooliganism committed by a group of persons with particular audacity. Proceedings were opened under Part 2 of Article 296 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which provides for up to 4 years in prison.

The police also reported that both defendants had previously been convicted of theft and fraud.

We will remind, in the evening of January 31, a series of explosions occurred in Odesa. The Russian army attacked the city center with ballistic missiles. A missile attack by Russian terrorists on the central part of Odesa damaged the famous architectural monument - the Bristol Hotel. Seven people were injured.

Odesa region was among the top three regions where fireworks were launched the most during the war. During the three years of the full-scale invasion, 5 sentences were handed down in the region.Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in Ukraine, after the ban on the use of pyrotechnics, Ukrainians have received 44 sentences for launching fireworks. Most of these cases resulted in fines, but suspended and real prison sentences were also handed down.

Ірина Глухова