Ukraine’s Security Service has arrested two men it accuses of planting homemade explosive devices near Kyiv’s metro stations.
The men demanded 50 bitcoins, the equivalent of $500,000, to stop the attacks.
While searching a car and apartment belonging to the suspects, law enforcement uncovered “a number of items confirming the involvement of these individuals in those crimes,” Prosecutor Oleh Kiper said during a July 29 press conference shortly after the men were detained.
On July 17, a homemade explosive device detonated in a trash receptacle near the Shuliavska metro station, injuring four people. A university student was hospitalized with severe injuries.
On July 20, a similar explosive device was found at a garbage sorting station on the outskirts of Kyiv.
A photo of one of the homemade explosive devices allegedly built by two suspects in a string a bombings in Kyiv. The two men were detained by law enforcement on July 29. (Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)/Facebook)
The following day, an explosive device was discovered between two cars near the Minska metro station. Police evacuated people from the area and conducted a controlled detonation.
A similar explosive device detonated on the second floor of an apartment building in northern Kyiv on July 27. No one was injured.
Following at least two of the bombings, law enforcements received anonymous calls from the alleged terrorists, who demanded that money be transferred to offshore bitcoin accounts.
Notes with similar demands were left near the sites of the bombings.
Law enforcement soon grouped the terrorist attacks into one criminal proceeding.
The Security Service was able to identify the phone numbers from which the calls were placed and the car used by the terrorists to transport the explosive devices.
The two suspects, whose names have not been released, are around 60 years old. One is a former convict. They are now facing terrorism charges.
If found guilty, they face up to ten years in prison.
