The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has uncovered a network of three Russian intelligence agents who were plotting to sabotage Ukraine’s railway infrastructure to disrupt the supply of weapons and equipment to the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
That’s according to the SBU, Ukrinform reports.
The SBU’s counterintelligence unit apprehended one of the agents before he could derail a train loaded with ammunition. The suspect had been preparing a homemade brake “shoe” designed to cause the train to derail.
To document the sabotage, the agent installed cameras disguised as bird nests around the railway tracks, enabling real-time recording of the planned attack.
The detained suspect, a resident of Rivne, was linked to the 316th intelligence center of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), located in Crimea. He operated within a network led by two other agents based in the temporarily occupied region.
The network’s organizer, 43-year-old Roman Yakymchuk, worked alongside a former Ukrainian law enforcement officer, Oleksandr Ihnatiev, who acted as a liaison. Ihnatiev, dismissed from his position in 2014 for corruption and drunkenness, was responsible for recruiting and assigning tasks to agents.
Yakymchuk and Ihnatiev reportedly requested $100,000 from the GRU for work with the agent in Kyiv. However, the agent tasked with carrying out the sabotage was promised only 40% of the funds. The remaining amount was to be secretly divided between Yakymchuk and Ihnatiev, without informing their GRU superiors.
Thanks to the SBU’s proactive measures, the agent’s plans were thwarted, and he was detained. Investigators have documented the involvement of his superiors.
The suspects face charges under Part 2 of Article 111, Part 1 of Article 14, Part 4 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 113, and Part 1 of Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason committed under martial law, preparing and incitement to commit an act of sabotage under martial law, illegal handling of weapons, ammunition, or explosives).
Yakymchuk and Ihnatiev have been charged in absentia and remain in hiding in Crimea. The detained agent is in custody and faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
Photo credit: SBU
Source: SBU exposes three Russian agents planning railway sabotage in Ukraine
