Drones explode as they are being destroyed by Ukrainian air defence during mass night strike to Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on September 30, 2024. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)
Kyiv, Ukraine: Ukraine detained two people Monday in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk accused of being paid by Russia to set a vehicle on fire, with Kyiv suspecting a wider sabotage operation.
Police published photographs of a dark green van that had its front damaged, along with blurred images of a woman being detained by the SBU security service.
It said a 24-year-old woman and her 40-year-old male neighbour were detained for the arson and that they had acted on "enemy special service orders".
"The woman was looking for an easy part-time job on the internet. Soon, she was contacted by a representative of the enemy special service and offered money for setting fire to military vehicles undergoing maintenance," police in Ivano-Frankivsk said in a statement.
It said the man was also involved and that "both had previously been prosecuted for drug-related offences".
They risk up to 10 years in prison for the "intentional destruction or damage to property by arson".
Kyiv suspects Russian intelligence services of recruiting Ukrainians to damage military vehicles, Ukraine's National Police later told AFP, adding that the campaign had "intensified".
It said it had recorded "more than 200" similar crimes in several regions this year, saying a quarter of those detained were "minors who do not realise the social danger of such acts and their responsibility".
"The enemy promises big and easy money," the police said.
But it warned "the price of cooperation with enemy special services is long-term imprisonment or life imprisonment".
Russia, meanwhile, regularly accuses Ukrainian secret services of recruiting its citizens online to commit acts of sabotage in Russia.
