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Saboteurs detained in Zaporozhye for plotting terror attacks have links to Ukraine

The Interior Ministry reports that the members of the group kept collecting and handing over intelligence to the SBU about the movements, location of Russian forces, as well as high-ranking regional officials

MELITOPOL, December 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and police officers detained three underage members of a sabotage group, suspected of plotting terrorist attacks against government officials in the Zaporozhye Region at the behest of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the regional Interior Ministry directorate announced.

"The members of the group, which calls itself 'Black sabotage,' obtained Russian passports in 2022 on the instructions of their Ukrainian supervisors, and assumed an active pro-Russian position. In parallel, they kept collecting and handing over intelligence to the SBU about the movements, location of Russian forces, as well as high-ranking regional officials. During their activity, they organized several terror attacks, attempting to assassinate various officials," the Ministry said.

According to the Ministry, in December, 2022, the suspects handed over the coordinates of the Prival Okhotnika hospital complex to the SBU, which resulted in two people being killed and three injured by a Ukrainian rocket strike.

In June, 2023, group members produced a makeshift explosive device for an assassination attempt on the head of a federal civic organization, who later became a regional lawmaker. They also planted an IED at a railroad near the city of Melitopol in a bid to carry out a terror attack.

"In two cases, the suspects failed in their criminal attempts due to reasons beyond their control. […] According to the investigation, the group also included two local residents, who, presumably, died due to the premature detonation of an improvised explosive device," the police added.

The regional Investigative Committee directorate filed charges for an attempted terror attack and attempted murder of a law enforcement employee.

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