Ukrainian Sabotage Team Detained In Melitopol In Zaporizhzhia Region - Russia's FSB

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd June, 2023) Members of a Ukrainian sabotage team that planned to blow up a train with military equipment and was involved in attacks on Russian officials have been detained in the city of Melitopol in the Russian-controlled part of the Zaporizhzhia Region, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday.

"The activities of the sabotage group of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), created in the city of Melitopol to commit terrorist acts in the Zaporizhzhia Region, have been stopped. The detainees made murder attempts on the heads of state structures of the Zaporizhzhia Region, using improvised explosive devices, as a result of which several people received injuries of varying severity, one person died," the FSB said in a statement.

Additionally, the terrorists planned to use an improvised explosive device received from the SBU to mine the railway tracks under a moving train transporting military equipment for the Russian armed forces.

They were detained while taking the bomb from their hideout before planting it under the railway tracks.

Criminal cases of terrorist attack and assistance to terrorist activities have been opened. The arrested persons have been placed in a pre-trial detention center.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. Russia has considered the Zaporizhzhia Region to be part of its territory since September 30, 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of the region signed an agreement on its incorporation into country, following a referendum. Around 70% of the region is currently controlled by Russia but Ukrainian troops are still holding the region's capital and biggest city, Zaporizhzhia.