Job Offer Turned Suicide Bomb Plot: Is Russia Trapping Ukrainian Youths Amid War?

Last Updated:June 30, 2025, 20:52 IST

Ukraine’s security service (SBU) spokesperson Artem Dekhtiarenko claimed that since spring 2024, teenagers and vulnerable citizens have been recruited via Telegram.

Firefighters extinguish a fire on a damaged building following a strike in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region on March 11, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)

Russia has allegedly been paying young Ukrainian citizens to carry out suicide bombings amid the ongoing conflict between the two nations.

According to report by The Guardian, young citizens are being unknowingly lured into carrying out suicide bombings, allegedly orchestrated by Russian intelligence.

Oleh, a 19-year-old is one of the youths, who found a job by Telegram, only to find out that it was a trap by Russia. The job promised USD 1,000 to spray paint a police station in Rivne without being caught. However, as he opened the bad outside the police station, he reportedly found what looked like a homemade bomb, with protruding wires and a mobile phone attached to it, reported the outlet. This happened in early February this ear.

According to Ukraine’s SBU security agency, this is part of a broader pattern of attacks—over a dozen so far—where local recruits, often unaware, have been injured or killed in bombings allegedly planned by Russian operatives.

The Guardian reported that the sabotage campaign by Russia has escalated from arson to bombings, targeting areas far from the frontline.

Speaking to the Guardian, Ukraine’s security service (SBU) spokesperson Artem Dekhtiarenko claimed that since spring 2024, teenagers and vulnerable citizens have been recruited via Telegram, lured by money or blackmailed into carrying out attacks.

Dekhtiarenko mentioned that more than 700 individuals have been detained this year on sabotage and terrorism charges—a quarter of them teenagers, with the youngest just 11 years old.

“This is becoming common practice. Russians blow up their own agents," Dekhtiarenko said.

Speaking about Oleh, Dekhtiarenko stated that the 19-year-old along with his friend Serhiy, travelled to Rivne to retrieve a package from a garage, following precise instructions from Alexander. The task was to deliver the contents near a police station. But when Oleh opened the package, he realised it contained what appeared to be a homemade bomb, not paint.

Panicked, he alerted a nearby officer—only to be detained immediately by Ukraine’s SBU, who had been tracking the operation. The SBU believes the pair were unknowingly being used as suicide bombers in a growing Russian campaign that exploits vulnerable Ukrainians for sabotage inside the country.

According to the SBU, this is part of a wider pattern where Russian handlers use cryptocurrency payments, manipulation, and blackmail to recruit locals for espionage, arson, and now, bombings—often without the recruits fully understanding what they’re carrying.

Location :

Ukraine

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News world Job Offer Turned Suicide Bomb Plot: Is Russia Trapping Ukrainian Youths Amid War?