The Security Service of Ukraine has thwarted a series of high-profile terrorist attacks and a contract killing that were plotted in Ukraine.

Following a multi-stage operation, the former Deputy Head of the State Emergency Service and his accomplices, who were plotting to assassinate a civil society activist, were served with notices of suspicion.

Crimes have also been documented against the head of the Chernihiv regional branch of a prominent political party. Whilst in hiding outside Ukraine, he organised and financed terrorist and arson attacks in western and northern Ukraine.

It has been established that members of the criminal group were planning to detonate a construction crane near a residential complex in Chernihiv.

According to the organisers’ plan, the crane was to fall onto a nearby block of flats and civilian vehicles following the explosion, thereby causing numerous casualties among local population.

To carry out the crime, the suspects sought out executors by utilising personal connections within the criminal underworld.

This task was primarily handled by another leader of the group, who operated under the guise of being the head of a regional branch of a prominent civil society organisation.

However, the perpetrators were unaware that their every move had been documented by the Security Service of Ukraine from the start.

Following these pre-emptive measures, a covert operation was carried out to infiltrate undercover agents into the gang and simulate an explosion.

In this way, the SSU prevented another terrorist attack – the bombing of the Territorial Recruitment Centre in Prykarpattia – when the ‘executors’, acting on instructions from the organisers, manufactured a bomb using plastic explosives and electric detonators with the intention of throwing it through a window of the administrative building.

With the support of the Ivano-Frankivsk Territorial Recruitment Centre’s leadership, the SSU staged an explosion at the administrative building.

Subsequently, a former State Emergency Service official ordered the bombing of the private residences of the president and two other judges of the Chernihiv Court of Appeal who, in 2024, had sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment for car theft.

The former official also ordered an assassination of a local activist. This turned out to be a blogger from the Chernihiv region, who was instructed by the suspect to have his limbs shot and be doused in sulphuric acid.

As part of the operation, the attempted assassination, as well as the terorist attacks involving arson, were thwarted, and those responsible were declared suspects under the Articles of the CCU:

• 15.2, 258.2 (attempted terrorist act);
• 15.2, 121.2 (attempted grievous bodily harm);
• 14.1, 378.2 (preparing to intentionally destroy or damage a judge’s property by arson or explosion);
• 191.5 (misappropriation, embezzlement, or acquisition of property through abuse of official position on an especially large scale).

In addition, a notice of suspicion has been served in absentia to the group’s ‘sponsor’, the head of the Chernihiv branch of the political party, and his accomplice. Both individuals are currently abroad. An international arrest warrant is planned for both individuals.

The investigation was carried out under the procedural supervision of the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.