SBU prevents terrorist attack in center of Kyiv: Kyiv woman supposed to blow up cafe on enemy's instructions

Counterintelligence of the Security Service prevented another terrorist attack by Russian special services in Kyiv: a female suspect who planned to blow up a cafe in the very center of the Ukrainian capital on the evening of July 23 was detained, the SBU reports.

"To commit the crime, she planned to leave two improvised explosive devices [IEDs] in the cafe with a total capacity of almost 1.5 kg in TNT equivalent," the Ukrainian special service said in a message on the Telegram channel on Thursday.

According to the case materials, Russian special services planned to remotely blow up both IEDs during the evening rush hour in order to kill the maximum number of people.

"SBU officers uncovered the hostile plot and detained the suspect red-handed when she entered the cafe with IEDs hidden in her bag," the report states.

As the investigation established, the Russian order was carried out by a Kyiv woman, whom the occupiers recruited to commit a terrorist attack under a "foreign flag," convincing the woman that she was supposed to carry out an SBU task.

The Security Service is establishing how the suspect obtained the IEDs.

It is documented that she received from the Russian curator the geolocation of the planned explosion site, where she was supposed to leave the explosives.

The suspect's phone with evidence of her contacts with the occupiers was seized.

The question of the qualification of her actions is currently being resolved.

The SBU emphasizes that representatives of the Security Service do not hire people by phone, do not offer to perform illegal actions, and do not set dubious tasks.

"In the event of receiving suspicious offers or contacts with unknown persons who present themselves as SBU employees, immediately report this to: the SBU hotline 0 800 501 482 or the Spaly FSB chatbot t.me/spaly_fsb_bot," the special service urges.