Latest Russia-linked terrorist plans exposed

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on
March 22 its officers pre-empted an attempt by a terrorist to detonate an explosive
device in the Kharkiv metro system. Russian intelligence services recruited the
Kharkiv resident to organize and carry out the terrorist act that was “supposed
to lead to numerous human victims and destabilize the socio-political situation
in the country on the eve of the presidential elections,” the SBU said. Russian
agents gave the terrorist an explosive device containing 600 grams of TNT that
was to be activated by a telephone call. They paid him USD 15,000 to commit the
terrorist act, the SBU said, for which he acquired nails, screws, nuts and
bolts “to fill the explosive device to bolster its damaging effect and increase
the number of victims.”

A Russian citizen, being sought in a murder case, died
in a Kyiv apartment on March 23 when an explosive device erupted. Police found
fragments of a homemade explosive device, as well as several passports and a
mobile phone. The 28-year-old was being sought for a murder committed in
Ukraine.

Zenon Zawada: The SBU deserves to be lauded for pre-empting what would have been a
devastating attack ahead of the elections. We have shared the view of experts
that the Russian government would be using its
campaign of aggression to
foment terror and influence the vote. An explosion in a metro system would have
had enormous potential in sowing fear among the public, prompting more
Ukrainians to vote for candidates calling for peace with Russia (considered to
be capitulation by many). That’s especially the case after investigative news
reports exposed the president to be allegedly profiting from the war. If that’s true, it creates the impression that he
is not leading the war with moral discretion, and is indifferent to all the
damage it’s doing.