KIEV, December 10. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has detained three Russian nationals in a special operation, the SBU spokeswoman said on Thursday.
"Two citizens of the Russian Federation and three citizens of Ukraine have been detained," Yelena Gitlyanskaya posted on her Facebook account.
Later, she announced the detention of a third Russian national, but gave no names.
Gitlyanskaya said the detainees had allegedly been caught in a special operation aimed at neutralising a sabotage group operating in some Ukrainian cities, including Kiev.
"The crime scene is under investigation but by now in one place in the capital, eight homemade explosive devices, four kilos of TNT, automatic weapons, over forty hand grenades and 2,000 cartridges along with components for explosive devices and weapons had been confiscated," she said.
Gitlyanskaya said that in one case the Alfa special forces unit had to storm a flat where the suspects were sheltering.
"A member of the sabotage group opened fire from automatic weapons wounding two officers of the Alfa special forces unit and was eliminated," she said.
Meanwhile, no information on the incident has been published on the official websites of Ukraine’s Security Service or Interior Ministry.