Ukraine blames Russian intelligence for draft board attacks
The Ukrainian police have identified the most likely perpetrators of attacks on military draft boards. "Together with the Security Service of Ukraine, we clearly understand that this is a specific attack by Russian special services," said Ivan Vyhivskyi, head of the Ukrainian police.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been at least nine incidents in Ukraine, including explosions related to military conscription.
According to the head of the Ukrainian police, Russian services' actions aim to "create a false opinion in society about mobilization, destabilize the situation, and generate a negative attitude towards the security and defence forces."
He added that in three of the nine sabotage cases, there was an attempt on the lives of police officers. "We recorded an incident where a police patrol was called in one of the regions, and an explosive device was found in an apartment, hidden in a children's toy," he reported.
"Since last year, all police officers have been warned that Russians are hunting all representatives of the security and defence forces, including police officers and representatives of the draft boards," declared Vyhivskyi.
To carry out the attacks, the Russian services are mainly recruiting teenagers, unemployed individuals, or people with legal problems, such as drug dealers. "In two cases, the perpetrators were eliminated after completing their mission," noted Vyhivskyi.
Russian services operate in Ukraine. Worrying incidents
Ukrainian media remind us that the series of notorious attacks began on February 1 in the town of Pyriatyn in the Poltava region. An employee of the draft board, who was travelling with soldiers by bus to a training centre, was shot at a gas station.
On the same day, an explosion occurred at the draft board's headquarters in Rivne, resulting in one death and injuries to eight people.
On February 2, a device exploded at the draft board in Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, injuring a military officer.
Furthermore, on February 5, an explosion occurred near the board building in Kamianets-Podilskyi.
"Operations targeting military personnel and attacks on draft boards are overseen by the GRU and FSB structures (military intelligence and the Federal Security Service) of Russia," said Andriy Kovalenko of the government's Centre for Countering Disinformation.
