In Odesa, a serial car arsonist was sentenced to six years in prison

A court in Odesa sentenced a man to six years in prison for setting fire to residents’ cars at the behest of an unknown mastermind.

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

According to the police, the Odessa resident was arrested last December. Police determined that while searching for work on a popular messaging app, the Odessa resident met an unidentified individual who offered him money to set fire to vehicles belonging to military personnel or high-end civilian vehicles.

After agreeing to this illegal scheme, the man photographed cars on the city streets, coordinated with his handler, and at night doused them with a flammable liquid he had purchased in advance, set them on fire, filmed the incident, and fled.

Over the course of several nights, the perpetrator burned four Tesla cars in the city’s Kyivskyi district, all of which were used by local civilian men and women. In addition, while one of the cars was on fire, the flames spread to a Toyota parked nearby, which belonged to another Odessa resident. According to experts, the total amount of damage caused to the victims exceeds three million hryvnias.

After the most recent arson, police detained the convicted man, and he has been in custody ever since.

Previously, the Black Sea City Court of the Odesa Region found a native of Norilsk, Russian Federation—who is a citizen of Ukraine—guilty of sabotage and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. The convicted man purchased an incendiary mixture at a gas station, after which, on September 3, 2025, at approximately 4:35 a.m., he set fire to a battery cabinet at the 15-kilometer mark of the “Ksenievo–Odesa-Zakhidna” section of the railway. 

Кирило Бойко