“Counterintelligence officers of the Security Service thwarted a series of terrorist attacks in Poltava region. As a result of a special operation, a Russian agent was detained in the region while preparing explosions near local administrative buildings used by Ukrainian military and law enforcement,” the message reads.
According to investigators, the suspect received an order from Russia to carry out explosions near a district police department and the city’s Territorial Recruitment Center during rush hour. The woman was supposed to plant an improvised explosive device near the government building, law enforcement noted.
“At the moment of planting the device near the administrative building, the occupiers planned to detonate the explosive along with their own agent,” the investigation claims.
According to investigators, the person recruited by the aggressor state turned out to be a 30-year-old unemployed woman from Poltava Oblast who had been looking for “easy money” through online gambling, where she was recruited by a Russian intelligence officer.
To prepare for the attack, the suspect received money from her handler to rent a safe house and purchase components needed to assemble the explosive device, the SBU stated.
“She then received instructions from Russia on how to make the IED, which she hid inside a kettle and ‘reinforced’ with additional lethal elements, equipping it with an electronic device with remote access for the occupiers,” the statement said.
During searches, law enforcement officers seized components for an explosive device and a mobile device containing evidence of her communications with the Russian handler.
She has been formally charged under Part 1 of Article 14 and Part 2 of Article 258 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code — preparation for committing a terrorist act — and under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 263 — illegal handling of explosives. The suspect is in custody. She faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.