Russia used and eliminated its own agent in Rivne bombing
Police near the Territorial Center for Recruitment (TCC) in Rivne after the explosion on February 1, 2025 (Photo: National Police)
Russia recruited a 21-year-old unemployed man from Ukraine’s Zhytomyr Oblast to carry out a bombing at a Territorial Center for Recruitment in Rivne on Feb. 1, but he was killed along with the explosives inside the building, the SBU said on Feb. 5.
The investigation found that Russian special services recruited the suspect through anonymous Telegram job listings, using him as an unwitting operative. He arrived in Rivne with a homemade explosive device hidden in a backpack.
On Feb. 1, following Russian instructions, Zhytomyr Oblast resident entered the enlistment office, where the Russians remotely detonated the bomb using a phone call, recording the attack on video.
The SBU said he was intentionally killed to eliminate a witness.
The blast injured eight servicemen. Authorities are investigating the attack as an act of terrorism under Part 3 of Article 258 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, which carries a potential life sentence.
On Feb. 1, police initially reported six injuries and one fatality in the Rivne attack.
The next day, an explosion near an enlistment office in Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, injured a 24-year-old serviceman.
On Feb. 5, the SBU announced the arrest of three men linked to that blast.
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