Ukraine Arrests Alleged Russian Agent Accused of Assassination, Sabotage in Kharkiv
Ukrainian authorities have arrested and indicted a man accused of carrying out a series of deadly sabotage operations, including the assassination of a Ukrainian soldier and failed plots to kill high-ranking officials, allegedly under the orders of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
In a statement released Tuesday, the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office announced that the 56-year-old suspect, originally from the Russian-occupied Crimean city of Yevpatoria, had been apprehended in late October 2024 while attempting to flee Kharkiv aboard a regional train.
Described as a repeat offender with a history of criminal convictions and pro-Kremlin sympathies, the suspect reportedly moved to Belgorod, Russia, in 2015, where he began cooperating with the FSB. According to prosecutors, he was tasked with executing subversive and violent operations inside Ukraine, in exchange for monetary rewards.
The suspect allegedly entered Ukraine in February 2024 to fulfill his first mission the assassination of a Ukrainian serviceman. In March, he reportedly shot the soldier in the back near a residential building in Kharkiv. The victim died at the scene.
In October, the suspect planted an explosive device beneath the car of Viacheslav Zadorenko, head of the Derhachi City Military Administration. Fortunately, Zadorenko spotted the bomb before it could detonate, narrowly avoiding injury or death.
Investigators say the suspect was also commissioned to assassinate the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, in exchange for $50,000. The plan reportedly involved planting explosives under Syniehubov’s vehicle. However, after realizing he was under surveillance by Ukrainian law enforcement, the agent postponed the operation and instead set fire to two Ukrainian military vehicles.
The suspect was arrested in late October 2024 while attempting to flee Kharkiv. He has since been charged with multiple offenses under Ukraine’s Criminal Code, including:
- State treason
- Premeditated murder for hire
- Sabotage
- Terrorism
- Illegal possession of weapons
He is currently in custody without the possibility of bail. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment. The arrest comes amid a reported surge in Russian-sponsored assassination plots and acts of sabotage across Ukraine. Just days earlier, a local lawmaker in Dnipro was killed by a car bomb. Ukrainian security services (SBU) also recently foiled a planned terrorist attack in a Kyiv construction hypermarket that aimed to target civilians and government officials.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously stated there have been numerous attempts to assassinate him and other top officials since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
