A trial has begun in Germany involving three Ukrainians who for allegedly plotting sabotage attacks in Germany and Ukraine.
The defendants—identified as Yevhen B., Daniil B., and Vladyslav T.—face charges including conspiracy to commit aggravated arson and acting as foreign agents.
German prosecutors previously announced that two of the suspects had been charged with espionage and conspiracy to commit aggravated arson, after allegedly planning to send packages from Germany toward parts of Ukraine.
According to prosecutors, Daniil B. and Vladyslav T. worked together with Yevhen B. to send GPS-equipped parcels from Cologne in March 2025. These packages were intended to map delivery routes before further, more dangerous shipments could be sent.
Prosecutors stated:
Such parcels were to be ignited in Germany or elsewhere on their way to parts of Ukraine not occupied by Russia and cause as much damage as possible in order to undermine the population’s sense of security.
The three suspects were arrested separately. Daniil B. and Vladyslav T. were detained in Germany, while Yevhen B. was arrested in Switzerland in May 2025 and later extradited to Germany in December.
The case comes amid a broader pattern of suspected espionage and sabotage-related investigations across Europe. In October, a Munich court sentenced a German-Russian national to six years in prison for spying and planning sabotage acts. In November, Polish prosecutors charged five foreign nationals, including two Ukrainians and three Belarusians, with working for an unidentified intelligence service. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Poland has arrested 55 individuals suspected of acting on behalf of Moscow.
In the United Kingdom, lasers from a Russian spy ship were reported to have disrupted Royal Air Force operations, although the Russian Embassy rejected the allegations, stating that Russia is “not interested in British underwater communications.”
