Category: Latest news

From Job Ad to Bomb Plot: Kyiv Woman Streams Attack to Russian Intelligence

Jan 05, 2026 18:30

2 min read

Authors: Roman Kohanets
News Writer

Ukrainian police officers and an SBU agent stand with a detained 24-year-old woman suspected of the bombing of a serviceman’s vehicle. (Source: National Police of Ukraine)

The National Police of Ukraine said on January 5 that, together with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), they detained a 24-year-old Kyiv resident suspected of planting an improvised explosive device that blew up a National Guard serviceman’s car in the capital.

Police said the explosion occurred around 10:30 a.m. on January 4 near a residential building, and that a mobile phone found at the scene was used to stream the attack to the organizer in real time.

The agency mentioned that the woman, acting on instructions from what they described as a Russian special services handler, made the device at home, placed it under the vehicle, and set up a concealed camera, and that the serviceman and a female acquaintance suffered injuries, including shrapnel wounds and concussion.

The suspect had been looking for temporary work on social media when she was contacted in autumn 2025 and promised $1,500 for carrying out the attack, but she did not receive the payment. Investigators said she was detained within hours and the case was classified as a terrorist act; the SBU said the serviceman had returned to Kyiv on leave from the front and that the bomb detonated as he approached the vehicle and opened the trunk.

Emergency responders stand near a damaged SUV at the scene of an explosion in Kyiv’s Obolon district, January 2026. (Source: National Police of Ukraine)

Investigators and emergency workers examine debris between damaged vehicles at the scene of an explosion in Kyiv’s Obolon district, January 2026. (Source: National Police of Ukraine)

The National Police said the woman was detained under Ukraine’s criminal procedure rules and notified of suspicion under Article 258, part 1 of the criminal code, which carries a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison, and that she is also suspected of setting fire to a serviceman’s car in December.

Earlier, it was reported that Ukraine’s Security Service prevented a planned Russian‑linked terror attack in Kyiv that targeted a large retail store and aimed to kill officials, describing how explosive devices were to be placed to cause mass casualties before being thwarted by the SBU.

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