Head of the SBU Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Hrytsak has said the agency has exposed and arrested members of a subversive terrorist group of Russian special services operating in the territory of Ukraine, which had been deployed to carry out political assassinations and liquidate officers of the Ukrainian special services. "The SBU officially reports that the activities of a seven-strong sabotage and reconnaissance terrorist group of the Russian special services have been prevented in the territory of our state. All [group members] have been detained and taken into custody," Hrytsak told a Kyiv briefing on Wednesday, according to an UNIAN correspondent. Hrytsak said this morning "we were finishing the latest stage of this operation and detained another person who was complicit in the activities of this terrorist group in the territory of our state."
Several autonomous subversive and terrorist units have been deployed in Ukraine from the Russian Federation and the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" since the beginning of 2017, Hrytsak reported. "These groups were sent by Russian military intelligence to carry out political assassinations and liquidate officers of Ukrainian special services. On June 27, 2017, one of such groups committed an audacious crime – a terrorist attack, which killed Military Intelligence General Maksym Shapoval. According to a similar scenario, on April 4, 2019, an early-detonation occurred during an attempt to plant an explosive device under the car of a Ukrainian military intelligence officer," Hrytsak added.
