KYIV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian court has jailed a man for 10 years after finding him guilty of plotting with Russia to blow up transport infrastructure to disrupt foreign arms supplies, Ukraine’s domestic security agency said on Friday.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) did not identify the man but said he had fought with Russia-backed militant groups in eastern Ukraine before and since Moscow’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
The SBU said in a statement that it had detained the man in February before he had been able to carry out his mission.
After fighting against Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine, he was tasked by Russian military intelligence with blowing up two infrastructure objects, it said.
It did not identify the intended targets but said they were in the Rivne region in western Ukraine, where there are several important road and railway links with Poland.
The routes used to transport Western military aid are kept secret in Ukraine, but equipment is often seen passing through eastern Poland. Western military support has been vital in helping Ukraine fight Russian forces.
“In order to carry out the enemy’s task, the criminal conducted reconnaissance of the territory around infrastructure facilities and prepared to place explosives in the most vulnerable places of both transport routes,” the SBU said.
“However, the SBU employees worked ahead of time and detained the attacker as a result of a multi-stage special operation at the end of February this year.”
(Reporting by Max Hunder, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
