Photo: The SBU foiled a double terrorist attack in Ivano-Frankivsk targeting rescue workers
The Counterintelligence Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine foiled an attempt by Russian intelligence agencies to carry out a double terrorist attack in the central part of Ivano-Frankivsk. According to the investigation, after the first explosion, the occupiers planned to remotely detonate a second bomb once rescue workers, medical personnel, law enforcement officers, and local residents arrived at the scene.
According to the security service, the attack was to take place in the courtyard of a residential complex. The first homemade explosive device was to be remotely detonated in the parking lot, and the second was to be detonated after the arrival of emergency services to cause the maximum number of casualties.
According to the investigation, the attack was planned by a local unemployed man whom Russian intelligence services recruited through Telegram channels, where he was looking for “easy money.”
After receiving instructions from his handlers, the man rented an apartment overlooking the site of the planned attack. From there, Russian intelligence agencies were to monitor the situation and coordinate the explosions. In addition, the suspect secretly installed a phone in the courtyard, connected to a power bank, so that his handlers could select the optimal location for planting the explosives.
Subsequently, following instructions from Russian intelligence agencies, he purchased components for manufacturing improvised explosive devices.
The SBU reported that the agent was supposed to disguise the explosives as kitchen pots. Each of the two improvised explosive devices was supposed to contain about six kilograms of explosive material, detonators, and hundreds of metal bolts, which were to serve as projectiles.
According to the Russian intelligence services’ plan, the first explosive device was to be planted among civilian vehicles in a parking lot. After it detonated and local residents, law enforcement officers, medical personnel, and rescue workers arrived at the scene, the occupiers planned to remotely activate a second bomb planted nearby.
The SBU’s counterintelligence unit documented the entire process of preparing the terrorist attack, prevented its execution, and, according to the agency, identified the Russian intelligence officers who coordinated the planning of the crime.
This was reported by the SBU.
As a reminder, a court handed down sentences to two agents of Russia’s FSB who organized a terrorist attack near the Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support (TCRSS) in Kamianets-Podilskyi in February 2025. One of the convicted men received a life sentence, while the other was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
For organizing the terrorist attack, a Kyiv resident was sentenced to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.
