Russia Recruited Teenager to Bomb Kyiv Draft Office, Ukraine Says

Ukraine is said to have arrested a 17-year-old teenager in Kyiv who had been tasked by Moscow to blow up a local military recruitment center. 

The incident followed a series of similar cases in which locals were reportedly recruited by Russian intelligence agents to place bombs near government institutions or in public spaces – at times intentionally blowing up their unsuspecting dupe in the process. 

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Monday that the 17-year-old had previously been arrested for setting fire to military vehicles at the behest of Russian intelligence, after which he was placed under house arrest.

The SBU said in a Monday press release, that the teenager had reached out to his handler from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) while under house arrest. 

He was then tasked with collecting a ready-made improvised explosive device (IED) and planting it under the walls of a local territorial recruitment center “after which the Russian intelligence service planned to remotely detonate it together with their underage accomplice,” the press release says. 

The photos issued by the SBU show what appears to be a plastic-based explosive with metal nails and bolts embedded inside to maximize the damage by providing a fragmentation effect. 

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Embedded in the middle of the plastic is a syringe filled with an unknown white substance, with copper wires wrapped around it – which could have been an improvised detonator. 

The SBU said the teenager was arrested after collecting the IED. He is charged with plotting a terrorist attack and faces 12 years in prison if convicted. 

Authorities said the teenager might also be charged with committing high treason during martial law, which can carry a life sentence. 

While the motivation for the teenager’s alleged collaboration with Russian intelligence remains unclear, similar reports from the past said local youths are often motivated by the offer of monetary rewards after being recruited through social media.