A 17-year-old boy hired by Russian special services to carry out a terrorist attack died when a homemade explosive device he was transporting was remotely detonated, Ukrainian police and the Security Service (SBU) reported.
The boy’s 15-year-old accomplice was seriously injured in the blast that also wounded two bystanders in the Ukrainian town of Ivano-Frankivsk.
“The Russian special services tried to eliminate all the perpetrators,” the police said of the explosion.
According to a police statement, the two local teenagers were recruited via the popular Telegram messaging app, where they found an advertisement for the terrorist job that promised to pay them $1,700.
“They received instructions from their 'employer' and money to rent an apartment near the train station. Then they purchased the necessary substances and components and made explosives in an apartment, which they were to place in designated locations,” the report says, as quoted by the Ukrainian Interfax news agency.
The teenagers placed the explosives in thermos flasks and adapted them with metal elements to increase their power, capturing the entire process on video, in line with instructions from the Russians, the police said.
According to the United24Media website, Russian intelligence used GPS tracking to detonate the device while it was being carried by the teenagers to the drop-off point.
The SBU wrote in response to the terrorist attack: “They blow up their own agents, use them ‘blindly’ and then kill them as unwanted witnesses.”
“If you or someone you know is offered a 'simple job' to deliver a package to a military enlistment office, police station or any other administrative building, beware—they are trying to kill you,” the service added.
Minutes after the explosion that killed the 17-year-old, another device, located in the appartment rented by the teenagers, was detonated, setting the building on fire.
“Four people were rescued from the blocked apartments on the 8th and 9th floors at the scene of the explosion,” the head of the regional department of the State Emergency Service reported.
No casualties were reported in the second explosion and the fire was quickly extinguished, Interfax wrote.
In February, a bomb exploded near a café in southern Ukraine in similar circumstances.
Two people were killed and eight others injured in the blast in the city of Mykolaiv on February 14, local police said.
Officials quoted by the Kyiv Post claimed that the incident was the latest example of Russian security agencies recruiting Ukrainians under false pretenses to plant explosives and remotely detonating the devices before the couriers could escape.
“The Russian special services tried to eliminate all the perpetrators,” the police said of the explosion.
According to a police statement, the two local teenagers were recruited via the popular Telegram messaging app, where they found an advertisement for the terrorist job that promised to pay them $1,700.
“They received instructions from their 'employer' and money to rent an apartment near the train station. Then they purchased the necessary substances and components and made explosives in an apartment, which they were to place in designated locations,” the report says, as quoted by the Ukrainian Interfax news agency.
The teenagers placed the explosives in thermos flasks and adapted them with metal elements to increase their power, capturing the entire process on video, in line with instructions from the Russians, the police said.
The teens were then ordered to leave the bomb at a set location in the city.СБУ та Нацполіція встановили, що теракт в Івано-Франківську 11 березня організувала рф: ворог підірвав власних агентів
— СБ України (@ServiceSsu) March 12, 2025
➡️ https://t.co/X4Fm2d86nR pic.twitter.com/96NXquZYdK
According to the United24Media website, Russian intelligence used GPS tracking to detonate the device while it was being carried by the teenagers to the drop-off point.
The SBU wrote in response to the terrorist attack: “They blow up their own agents, use them ‘blindly’ and then kill them as unwanted witnesses.”
“If you or someone you know is offered a 'simple job' to deliver a package to a military enlistment office, police station or any other administrative building, beware—they are trying to kill you,” the service added.
Minutes after the explosion that killed the 17-year-old, another device, located in the appartment rented by the teenagers, was detonated, setting the building on fire.
“Four people were rescued from the blocked apartments on the 8th and 9th floors at the scene of the explosion,” the head of the regional department of the State Emergency Service reported.
No casualties were reported in the second explosion and the fire was quickly extinguished, Interfax wrote.
In February, a bomb exploded near a café in southern Ukraine in similar circumstances.
Two people were killed and eight others injured in the blast in the city of Mykolaiv on February 14, local police said.
Officials quoted by the Kyiv Post claimed that the incident was the latest example of Russian security agencies recruiting Ukrainians under false pretenses to plant explosives and remotely detonating the devices before the couriers could escape.
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