A military court in Russia’s southern district of Rostov-on-Don found Dmitry Golubev guilty of last August’s Melitopol bombing and two other attempted similar attacks, Russian state media reported. He was charged with international terrorism.
Russian forces captured this southern Ukrainian city in the first week after launching a full-scale invasion last year.
Prosecutors said Mr. Golubev placed an explosive device at the entrance to the regional traffic police headquarters building. The explosion caused significant damage to the building.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had foiled two more suicide bombings. One of them was allegedly planned in a government building in Melitopol, and the other was supposed to be held on a road used by officials appointed by Moscow.
There were no reports of casualties during the incidents.
Russia said Golubev was recruited by Ukrainian secret services, who trained him in how to make and detonate explosive devices and supplied him with materials.
According to the Russian business newspaper Kommersant, Golubev admitted during the trial that he had planted the explosives, but denied charges of international terrorism.
“I am Ukrainian, I defended Ukraine,” the newspaper quoted him as saying to the court.
Kyiv has not yet commented on this Russian court verdict.
Several Russian-appointed officials have been assassinated or assassinated in parts of Ukraine controlled by Moscow during the 21-month conflict.
Kyiv has sometimes acknowledged its role in the various attacks, although Ukrainian officials also often point to local resistance groups as being responsible or that the attacks were the result of an internal Russian conflict.
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2024-09-03 21:30:03