Terrorist plot targeting kindergarten foiled – officials

Law enforcement authorities in the Lugansk People’s Republic have detained what they called a “reconnaissance and sabotage group” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces planning “terrorist attacks” in the frontline areas of the region, the local security agency, the MGB, said in a statement on Saturday.

The group sought to target “civilian infrastructure,” including kindergartens, the statement said. Local law enforcement officers are continuing to investigate the plot and are identifying other potential suspects, the MGB added.

The security service also released a video purportedly showing one of the detained members of the cell, who admits the group had been tasked with mining a bridge and “some facilities” that “turned out to be kindergartens.” The identity of the man was not publicly revealed and his face in the video was blurred.

Meanwhile, authorities in Kherson Region, which borders Crimea, reported having thwarted a terrorist act targeting a local administration office. The local security services “discovered and defused an improvised shrapnel-filled explosive device” with a yield equivalent to around 1kg of TNT, a Kherson emergency service spokesman told journalists. The local authorities did not provide any additional details about the matter. It is also unclear if any suspects linked to the incident had been identified.

The news came on the same day as the Crimean Bridge, which links the peninsula to the Russian mainland across the Kerch Strait, was damaged in a truck blast. A part of the road bridge collapsed in the explosion, while several fuel tanks of a train heading towards Crimea through a nearby railway bridge caught fire. Three people died in the attack.

Russian investigators probing the incident have not named any suspects in the case. Ukraine stopped short of officially taking responsibility for the blast, although it was lauded by the country’s intelligence agency, called the SBU, and the Defense Ministry on social media. The incidents come amid a protracted military conflict between Moscow and Kiev that has been ongoing since late February.

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