Saboteur sentenced to seven years in Odesa region

The Peresypskyi District Court of Odesa sentenced the saboteur to seven years in prison with confiscation of his property.

As stated in the court' s verdict, in March 2025, the man received a message on his account from an unidentified person who offered to perform a task of sabotage on the territory of the Odesa branch of Ukrzaliznytsia, namely, setting fire to an auto-locking relay cabinet (signaling installations), which is designed to signal the centralization and blocking of train traffic on a certain section of the railway line, for a monetary reward.

The next day after receiving the notification, the convict poured a flammable substance on the relay cabinet in the Dyukivskyi Park area and set it on fire, but the criminal offense was not completed for reasons beyond his control, as the fire did not damage the relay cabinet's direct equipment.

In court, the man testified that at the end of March this year, he was having financial difficulties, and therefore, while at his place of residence, he was looking for a job through the Telegram application, where he received an offer from an unfamiliar man to set fire to a relay cabinet at an existing railway section for a payment of $100, to which he agreed.

He was transferred UAH 120 to buy the liquid for the arson, and then carried out the order. The judges took into account that the man had sincerely repented, as well as the fact that his brother, who was serving under contract in one of the units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, went missing on April 21, 2025. All of this became mitigating circumstances, so the man received only seven years instead of the 15 years provided for in the Criminal Code of Ukraine for sabotage.

Кирило Бойко