Security Service Exposes Network of Caches with Explosives and Grenades for Sabotage Attacks

In just one day, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) found five caches of weapons in the Kyiv region, Luhansk region, and Mykolayiv city. According to operational data, the attackers hid weapons to further use them for sabotage attacks and destabilisation of the socio-political situation in the country.

In the Kyiv region:

During the investigative actions at the places of residence of the two participants in the criminal proceedings, the SSU officers found:

• 12 hand-held offensive grenade bodies
• 20 universal detonating fuses
• More than 260 cartridges of various calibers
• Starting pistol, converted for firing live ammunition

It was established that two residents of the Obukhiv district were involved in illegal activities. They were detained and served with notices of charges of committing a crime. A measure of pre-trial restraint in the form of detention is pending.

In Mykolayiv:

SSU officers found a cache of weapons and ammunition in the forest park zone of the regional center.

Removed from cache:

• Three anti-tank grenades
• One MON-50 anti-personnel mine
• Three RGD-5 grenades with fuses
• More than 150 cartridges of various calibers

According to preliminary information, to arrange the cache, the wrongdoers smuggled the means of destruction to the south of Ukraine from the territory of the Russian Federation. The “route” passed through the border areas in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are temporarily beyond the control of the Ukrainian authorities.

In the Severodonetsk district of the Luhansk region:

Three caches arranged in 2014 by members of one of the subversive groups of militants were found.

A cache with explosives was located in a forest near the village of Voronove. A cache with combat grenades was disguised under slabs in an abandoned outbuilding near the banks of the Siversky Donets River. Another arsenal was found in a field near the village of Borivske.

In total, the following objects were removed from the three caches:

• Almost 15 kg of TNT
• Two anti-tank grenades
• Eight VOG-17 and VOG-25 grenades
• 17 RGD-5 and F-1 combat grenades
• Almost 1,000 cartridges of various calibers

Immediate investigative and operative actions are underway to establish all the circumstances of the offence and bring the perpetrators to justice based on the revealed facts of illegal activity.

Natalia Tolub