Security Service of Ukraine neutralized hostile Russian GRU agents who were planning sabotage on "UZ"

Security Service of Ukraine neutralized hostile Russian GRU agents who were planning sabotage on "UZ"

The counterintelligence of the Security Service of Ukraine neutralized an intelligence network of the GRU of the Russian Federation, which planned to organize a massive derailment of "Ukrzaliznytsia" trains used to supply weapons and equipment to Ukrainian soldiers at the front. Among the suspects was a resident of Rivne, and his handlers were traitors Roman Yakymchuk and Oleksandr Ihnatyev, who fled to occupied Crimea after 2014.

This was reported on December 27 by the press services of the SSU and the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office. According to the Ukrainian special service, the SSU’s counterintelligence prevented large-scale sabotage on "UZ" facilities.

As a result of the special operation, a Russian military intelligence GRU network has been exposed and neutralized.

The spies received "orders" for a series of railway track explosions used for front-line supplies.

Thanks to preventive measures, the Russian agent preparing to derail the first train was apprehended.

The suspect turned out to be a resident of Rivne. He cooperated with the 316th GRU intelligence center based in occupied Crimea.

This man had previously been convicted of human trafficking and was on probation.

He was creating a homemade braking "shoe" intended to derail a train loaded with ammunition.

According to the investigation, earlier on the enemy’s task, the man traveled to Kharkiv and found a weapons cache following the provided coordinates – an RPG-7 grenade launcher and ammunition for it.

He relocated the weapons elsewhere and hid them in the forest, then transmitted the cache’s coordinates to his handlers. These weapons were later to be used for subversive activities on Ukrainian territory.

In September 2024, the suspect received a new task - to carry out sabotage on railways in the western regions of Ukraine, where trains with civilians and humanitarian cargo operate.

Well-versed in this region, the Rivne resident independently chose the location for the sabotage - the railway track near the site of the defensive structure "Tarakaniv Fort."

To record the sabotage in real-time, the suspect placed several cameras disguised as bird nests around the railway line.

According to the saboteur’s plan, the train was to be derailed, causing destruction of the railway track, the train itself, and damage to the cargo.

The intelligence network included two more traitors hiding in occupied Crimea after relocating there post-2014.

The network’s organizer was 43-year-old Roman Yakymchuk, and the "liaison" who recruited and tasked the agent was a former Ukrainian law enforcement officer Oleksandr Ihnatyev, who was dismissed in 2014 for corruption and drunkenness.

For the operation with the agent in Kyiv, they requested $100,000 from the Russian GRU. The agent in the Ukrainian capital was promised 40% of this amount.

The remainder was to be divided between Yakymchuk and Ihnatyev, concealing this from the GRU leadership.

The SSU’s counterintelligence revealed the enemy’s plans ahead of time, detained the GRU agent before committing the sabotage, and documented his handlers, law enforcement reported.

The SSU investigators charged all three suspects under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Part 2, Article 111 (state treason under martial law conditions); Part 1, Article 14, Part 4, Article 27, Part 2, Article 113 (preparation and incitement to sabotage under martial law conditions), and additionally to the agent in Kyiv under Part 1, Article 263 (illegal handling of weapons).

Traitors in Crimea have been charged in absentia.

The detained agent is in custody. He faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

The special operation was conducted by SSU officers in Kyiv and the Kyiv region under the procedural guidance of the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office.