According to investigators, the suspect concealed the explosive device inside a trash dumpster located beside an administrative building before notifying his Russian intelligence handler via an encrypted messaging app. The handler planned to detonate the charge remotely during peak foot-traffic hours when civilian crowds were at their densest.
SBU stated that Russian special services intended to inflict maximum casualties among local civilians in an effort to destabilize the social and security situation in the northwestern border region.
Operatives moved in and detained the suspect as he attempted to depart the target perimeter. EOD specialists successfully recovered and defused the explosive device without incident.
Investigators determined that the suspect was recruited by Russian intelligence via Telegram channels promising quick monetary payouts. The man worked as a delivery courier for a local dispatch service, using his job as operational cover to conduct surveillance. Operating on a moped across Rivne, he photographed government compounds and nearby parking lots to identify optimal blast vectors, transmitting the coordinates to his Russian handler.
Following reconnaissance, the agent received GPS coordinates to a hidden cache where he retrieved the remote-controlled improvised bomb. In subsequent searches, officers seized his mobile phone, uncovering photographic evidence of target sites and direct messaging records with Russian security handlers.
State prosecutors charged the suspect with attempted commission of a terrorist act. A court ordered him remanded in custody without the option of bail, facing up to 12 years in prison alongside asset forfeiture.
On Sept. 17, SBU counterintelligence in Lviv Oblast detained two men suspected of involvement in a bombing outside the entrance of the Stryi District Territorial Recruitment Center (TCC) in the town of Mykolaiv.