German prosecutors said Wednesday that three Ukrainian nationals were arrested in Germany and Switzerland for allegedly agreeing to send packages containing explosives or combustion devices to Ukraine.
The men were suspected of sabotaging the destruction and agreed to set fire and explode, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
The so-called plan fits in a pattern with Western officials accusing Russia and its agents of carrying out dozens of attacks and other incidents in Europe since the full invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Two of the men were arrested in different areas of Germany on Friday and Saturday, respectively, and are only consistent with German privacy rules. The third, identified as Yevhen B., was arrested Tuesday in the neighboring country's northern region of Switzerland.
Prosecutors said the suspects were accused of telling “one or more people suspected of acting on behalf of Russian state agencies” that they were preparing to attack Germany’s freight transport. The alleged plan is that the people will send packages that were killed or caught fire to Ukraine.
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One of the suspects, Vladyslav T., was allegedly accused of providing the package contents through Daniil B, prosecutors said.
German prosecutors did not further elaborate on the contents or dispatch methods and locations of the package.
Herbert Reul, the top security official in North Rhine-Westfaria, where Cologne is located, said he does not believe the test packaging contains explosives or fuel. Among the suspects, he said: “The first impression was a low-level agent – those…who were not recruited and then did the job for the Russian state.”
In a previous case last year, Western security officials suspected the Russian Intelligence Agency was a conspiracy to place burner equipment in parcels of goods heading to North America, including a fire that caused a pivot in a German express hub and another ignited in a warehouse in the UK.
“We know that Russia is trying to understate the stability of Western democracies, including intentional destruction and critical intelligence methods,” German Attorney General Stefanie Hubig said after the latest arrest.
& Copy 2025 Canadian Press
