Volodymyr Ruban, a mediator in prisoner swaps between Ukraine and Russian-backed militants in Donbas, is accused of illegal firearms possession, preparing terror attacks and attempted assassination of President Petro Poroshenko and the country’s top officials, according to charges filed by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, in Shevchenko District Court in Kyiv on March 9.
Earlier, on March 8, Ruban was arrested at the Mayorsk checkpoint near the Russian-occupied city of Horlivka in the Donetsk Oblast some 580 kilometers southeast of Kyiv while allegedly trying to smuggle a batch of weapons, including several 120-millimeter and 82-millimeter mortar mines, a 60-millimeter mortar, as well as dozen Kalashnikov assault rifles and unattached magazine cases, to Ukrainian-controlled territory.
SBU’s charge papers, obtained by the Strana.ua news outlet, allege that Ruban purchased an arsenal of firearms, mortars, mines, anti-tank rockets, and grenades, in the occupied Donbas to illegally transport it to Kyiv.
Then, the indictment says, Ruban and his associates intended to capture the Kyiv’s governmental quarter, particularly the Verkhovna Rada and the Presidential Administration, in order to assassinate the Ukrainian president, lawmakers, other top security and government officials, and slay law enforcers thrown to rebuff the terror attack.
Also, with massive explosions and heavy destructive fighting in Ukraine’s capital, the plotters were aimed to cause severe civilians casualties and trigger overall chaos in the country, which would make the Ukrainian forces deployed in Donbas withdraw closer to Kyiv and allow Russia occupy swathes of Ukraine under the guise of a peacekeeping mission, the document reads.
An arsenal of weapons allegedly disclosed amid the arrest of a POW exchange mediator Volodymyr Ruban on March 8. (Myroslav Gai/Facebook)
While meeting SBU head Vasyl Grytsak later on March 9, Poroshenko asserted that Ukrainian security services obtained “undeniable evidence of what kind of terror attacks in Ukraine were being planned and what kind of network was being engaged.”
As of March 9 morning, Ruban was staying in custody at a pre-trial detention center in the city of Mariupol in southern Donetsk Oblast some 630 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, to according to the deputy minister for occupied territories Georgiy Tuka.
However, by midday, Ruban was transported to Kyiv to face the indictment at the Shevchenko District Court. During the hearing, he strongly denied all accusations of plotting terror attacks and weapons smuggling, claiming that he was simply transporting legal goods and furniture pieces across the Donbas separation line.
“They are making a number one terrorist out of me,” he claimed.
Eventually, the court ordered Ruban jailed for 60 days without bail.
During a briefing on March 9, Grytsak asserted that Ruban’s first batch of smuggled weapons crossed the frontline as far back as in November 2017 and was intercepted by Ukrainian security services.
“We have been recording the criminal activities of this group for a long time,” Grytsak said. “Therefore, many details regarding the preparations of this crime were revealed. I’d like to report that, as we believe, this was the highest threat of terrorism for Ukrainians during the entire time of our state’s independence.”
“The cynism of the situation сonsists of the fact that there were massive terror attacks planned. They planned to shell central Kyiv with mortars… They were planning to have as much blood and as many dead bodies as possible.”
Ruban, 50, сame into the spotlight in May 2014, when he started participating in exchanges of prisoners of war between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed troops amid blood-letting hostilities in the Donbas under the aegis of the Officer Corps civic group. He was repeatedly accused of pro-Russian sentiments.
On Feb. 27, the SBU eventually stripped Ruban of permission to cross the Donbas separation line and contact the Russian-backed forces over prisoners of war, allegedly due to a number violations of frontline-crossing procedure.
Also, according to numerous media reports, Ruban had been cooperating with Ukrainian Choice, a pro-Russian organization led by Viktor Medvedchuk, who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and an unofficial mediator in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. However, both Ruban and Medvedchuk continuously deny any ties between them.
