SBU completes probe into terror plot targeting Kyiv, Lviv

The Security Service of Ukraine has completed a pre-trial investigation into four Russian assets who planned to detonate improvised explosive devices in home improvement chain stores and outside crowded cafes in Kyiv and at a defense plant in Lviv.

That’s according to the SBU press center, Ukrinform reports.

The group of terrorists hired by the Russian GRU was exposed in the spring of 2024.

In May, the culprits were preparing a series of large-scale explosions in Kyiv, aiming to inflict mass casualties.

According to the case file, the perpetrators received the relevant task from their handler Yuriy Sizov, a serviceman with the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (colloquially known as GRU).

On his instructions, the group arrived in Kyiv, where they planted explosive devices in three construction hypermarkets.

The IEDs were concealed in tea packages and were to detonate in the targeted stores to cause maximum damage to the civilian population.

At the same time, the attackers were preparing another explosion outside a popular cafe in Ukraine’s capital, planting a bomb in a car parked nearby.

As a result of a multi-stage special raid by the SBU, the subversive plot was documented step by step.

The security service detained enemy assets when they were planting IEDs at one of the targeted stores.

Subsequently, the SBU nabbed two more members of the group who had smuggled the explosives from Russia.

It was established that, on the assignment of the Russian GRU, the explosives suppliers were also supposed to ensure the evacuation of one of the bombers to Russia.

In addition, as evidenced by the investigation, GRU’s Sizov was also responsible for plotting an act of sabotage in Lviv that was set to take place in February 2024. Then the SBU once again acted pre-emptively and thwarted explosions at the defense company premises.

Based on the evidence collected by the SBU, the accused will be tried for treason, sabotage, a terrorist act, illegal handling of explosive substances and explosive devices, and organization of illegal border crossing.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the SBU counter-intelligence unit foiled four terrorist attacks in Kyiv, which Russian assets had intended to commit on May 9.

First photo: Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office