A 54-year-old emergency repair worker at a utility company in Kharkiv will appear in court. He blew up a railway track on the instructions of the Russian special services and transmitted information about critical infrastructure facilities and the locations of Ukrainian defenders.
According to the investigation, in June 2025, the accused began communicating with a representative of the Russian FSB and agreed to carry out his tasks. In exchange, the man was promised assistance in traveling to the city of Severskodonetsk in Luhansk Region, where he was born, and a comfortable life under the protection of the occupation authorities.
In September, he took a homemade metal derailment shoe from a designated hiding place and installed it on a railway track in the suburbs of Kharkiv. The device caused an accident, but did not derail the train.
After that, the agent purchased a starter pack of mobile communications, a memory card and a camera trap for monitoring the track. Later, the "curator" gave him instructions for assembling explosives. The man was given the components for its manufacture - for this, the occupiers used a drone, which dropped the components at a pre-arranged location in the Kharkiv region. The enemy accomplice planted explosives and detonated them, as a result of which the track was damaged and the section was closed to train traffic.
In addition, he collected intelligence for a Russian intelligence officer. The man leaked to him the locations of Ukrainian military deployments and information about critical infrastructure facilities.
Later, the attacker began to prepare to commit a second sabotage. The man failed to complete the crime - in October 2025, law enforcement officers detained him in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. During the search, an explosive device and components for its activation were discovered and seized. The Kharkiv resident was notified of the suspicion. At the request of the prosecutor, the court chose a preventive measure in the form of detention.
The prosecutor of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office approved and sent to the court an indictment against him on the facts:
- sabotage committed under martial law (Part 2 of Article 113 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
- preparation for sabotage (Part 1, Article 14, Part 2, Article 113 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
- acquisition and storage of an explosive device and explosives without a permit provided for by law (Part 1, Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
- a completed attempt to commit sabotage (Part 2 of Article 15, Part 2 of Article 113 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
- high treason committed under martial law (Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The case will be considered by the Kharkiv District Court of the Kharkiv region.
The pre-trial investigation and operational support were carried out by employees of the SBU Department in the Kharkiv region.
According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent until his guilt is proven in accordance with the law and established by a court verdict of guilty.