Summary
Russian special services recruited two Ukrainian teenagers, aged 15 and 17, to carry out suicide bomb attacks in Ivano-Frankivsk, promising $1,700.
The teens unknowingly transported homemade explosives disguised as thermoses, which Russian handlers detonated remotely, killing one and seriously injuring the other. The blast also injured two passersby.
A second explosion occurred at the teens’ rented apartment.
Ukrainian authorities charged the surviving teen with terrorism-related crimes and warned of a new Russian tactic of exploiting and eliminating operatives to cover tracks.
The teen was hired to bomb something. Instead the Russians bombed the teen.