Odesa Saboteurs Admit 8 Attacks on Infrastructure Funded by

The detained saboteurs spoke about their subversive activities in Odesa and the region on the instructions of Russian special services.

This is stated in the material of Radio Liberty.

According to the investigation, from January to November 2024, Mykola Yermakov Mykola and Stanislav Topalov committed at least eight sabotage attacks aimed at undermining important infrastructure facilities such as warehouses and power substations in the Odesa region.

"I received a message via an encrypted communication channel from a Russian supervisor who said that because of the fires in Russia, we needed to take appropriate measures in Ukraine," Stanislav Topalov said of his first task. According to him, the first action was taken in late January, when they set fire to a warehouse with solid fuel materials in Odesa.

Subsequently, the curator suggested continuing the attacks on a regular basis - about once a month. They paid three thousand dollars for each sabotage.

One of the largest episodes, according to Topalov, occurred in late August, when he was tasked with disabling two power substations in a short period of time.

"The supervisor suggested that we do it in a short period of time. I decided to act quickly and took out two substations in one night," Topalov explained. He described how he carried out the two arsons: "I cut the barbed wire, climbed into the substation and set fire to the transformer. After that, I returned home, and the next night I did the same thing at another substation." However, according to Topalov, he was caught on a surveillance camera: "I walked around the substation from the central gate and did not notice the camera. After I set the fire, I hurried home, but later found out that I was recorded by the camera."

The saboteurs also told how they spent the money they received from the Russians.

"We bought the necessary equipment: backpacks, clothes, shoes, cell phones, laptops, and drones for surveillance," said Yermakov. The funds they received were spent not only on equipment, but also on organizing a safe retreat. "We were preparing backpacks for quick evacuation to be able to leave the territory quickly in case of danger," he added.

A representative of the Ukrainian special services said that it was extremely difficult to detain Topalov and Yermakov because of their high level of training. They acted in complete anonymity, carefully avoided using cell phones, traveled on railroad tracks and avoided surveillance cameras.

Earlier in Odesa, law enforcement officers detained teenagers who had been recruited for sabotage by Russian special services.

Ірина Глухова