On Wednesday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that its agents had killed and apprehended members of a Ukrainian sabotage group in the Bryansk region, claiming their involvement in terrorist activities within the country.
The FSB reported on its website that “three saboteurs were killed and three additional suspects were detained during a security operation.”
State-run news agencies released a video showing three men on the ground in a forested area, each declaring themselves to be part of a unit affiliated with Ukraine’s Special Operations forces.
The video transitions to FSB agents inspecting three bodies along with a stockpile of weapons. In the statement, the Russian intelligence agency noted the confiscation of American-made assault rifles, Czech explosives, and a significant quantity of NATO-standard grenades and ammo.
In an interrogation video, one of the detained individuals, claiming to be the commander Oleksandr Zhuk, stated that their unit had received training from instructors from Britain, Canada, and other European nations. The FSB accused the group of being trained “under the direct oversight of Western intelligence personnel” both in Ukraine and in NATO members Lithuania, Estonia, and Norway.
Zhuk reported that Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR had deployed the unit to the Bryansk region earlier this month “to execute a series of terrorist operations targeting critical Russian transportation infrastructure.” The FSB indicated that a radio device confiscated at the site of their security operation was intended for communicating with HUR’s headquarters in Kyiv.
It remained uncertain whether the man was coerced into speaking, but the formal nature of his statements suggested that his confession might have been premeditated. Additionally, it was not immediately possible to verify the FSB’s assertions.
Zhuk also mentioned that the Ukrainian special forces group participated in an explosion on a bridge in the Bryansk region in May, as well as a freight train derailment in the Belgorod region last September.
The FSB’s investigative unit has initiated a criminal investigation into sabotage and stated its intention to seek pre-trial detention for the three surviving individuals.
