Kiev steps up subversive activity in Zaporozhye Region, says regional head
In the first half of May, the regional law-enforcement agencies detained several saboteurs complicit in terror attacks and human deaths
MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. Ukraine has stepped up subversive activity in the Zaporozhye Region since early May but Russian forces are successfully countering it, acting Regional Governor Yevgeny Balitsky said on Thursday.
"Unfortunately, the enemy has stepped up its activity since about early May and we have begun to catch a far greater number of subversive groups but it should be noted that their quality has started to decrease sharply," Balitsky said in a live broadcast on the Rossiya-24 television channel.
Among the saboteurs, there are children and "outright idiots" who agree to such risks for 2,000 hryvnias, he added. "But we have learnt how to counter this activity, their armed gangs and cells. We have found mechanisms and will keep improving approaches to counter-terror activity," Balitsky stressed.
Fighting saboteurs in Zaporozhye Region
In the first half of May, the regional law-enforcement agencies detained several saboteurs complicit in terror attacks and human deaths. On May 2, the law-enforcement personnel promptly apprehended the perpetrators complicit in the assassination attempt on Melitopol Interior Department Deputy Head Alexander Mishchenko. A Ukrainian citizen and two Russian nationals also plotted to commit a new act of terror against a Melitopol high-placed police officer.
On May 10, the regional law-enforcement agencies foiled an assassination attempt on the Kirillovka police station head. As the regional branch of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) specified, the apprehended 31-year-old Ukrainian national arrived in the Zaporozhye Region for subversive and terror activity on an assignment from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Department and had an objective to eliminate representatives of the local administration and regional law-enforcement agencies.
On May 12, the regional law-enforcement agencies apprehended the individuals complicit in the explosion and the power cutoff in Melitopol. On May 17, the regional police defused an improvised explosive at the gas pipeline in the settlement of Rovnoye.