SBU, National Police again detain arsonists of military vehicles in Kyiv, Khmelnytskyy

The Security Service and the National Police detained two more groups of arsonists who were acting on the orders of Russian special services in Kyiv and Khmelnytskyy. On the instructions of the occupiers, their accomplices set fire to vehicles of the Defence Forces.

This was reported by the SBU press service.

The detainees were four residents of different regions of Ukraine. The aggressor came to the attention of the defendants when they were looking for ‘easy money’ in Telegram channels. Following instructions from Russia, the criminals first tracked the locations of potential targets and ‘coordinated’ them with their Russian handlers.

Then, the offenders arrived at the official car parks and set fire to them using petrol and flammable mixtures.

The offenders recorded the fires on their phones and then sent the videos to the occupiers.

According to reports, the Russian curators never paid the arsonists for the crime.

In particular, in Kyiv, two young men from Donetsk and Dnipro Regions were detained in hot pursuit of the arsonists who set fire to a Ukrainian defence vehicle that was being repaired after completing a mission. They had come to Kyiv ‘in search of earnings’.

At first, they built shelters in kindergartens, but later went to cooperate with the aggressor in exchange for ‘easy money’.

In Khmelnytskyy, two more arsonists were detained who tried to destroy an Armed Forces off-road vehicle. They planned to continue a series of crimes in the western region of Ukraine.

The defendants were two residents of Vinnytsya Region who arrived in Khmelnytskyy by train and moved into a rented apartment to carry out the arson attacks.

Both suspects were detained red-handed when they were filming the burning of a military vehicle on a mobile phone camera.

The detainees have now been notified of suspicion (in accordance with the crimes committed) under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

◾️ part 1, Article 114-1 (obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces and other military formations during a special period);◾️ part 2 of Article 194 (intentional damage to property committed by arson).

The perpetrators are in custody. They face 8 to 10 years in prison.