Russia recruits Ukrainian civilians online for sabotage, including minors, analysts say
The recruitment is conducted mainly through popular messaging platforms such as Telegram and even on dating websites. While Russia no longer needs its own operatives for attacks, Ukrainian authorities report that half of planned strikes in 2025 were thwarted before execution. In 2024, 558 sabotage arsons were carried out, dropping to 369 the following year, with dozens of additional plots prevented. The most alarming aspect is the use of financially vulnerable youths, including a mother-daughter pair in the Odessa region who were paid to set fire to military vehicles and infrastructure.
According to Andrii Niebytov, head of Ukraine's criminal police, and Clara Kaluderovic of the Atlantic Council, Russia has shifted to recruiting Ukrainian civilians online for sabotage missions, exploiting platforms like Telegram and dating sites. This approach reduces costs and allows deployment anywhere, but it has not achieved strategic goals, as many attacks have been foiled. In 2024, Russian-backed saboteurs carried out 558 arson attacks; the figure fell to 369 in the following year, with police preventing numerous other terror attempts.
Recruiters target individuals in financial distress, often treating them as disposable assets, and alarmingly some are as young as 13. In 2025, police detained 69 minors linked to sabotage, including a mother and daughter from the Odessa region who were paid to ignite critical infrastructure and a Ukrainian military vehicle after a failed attempt by the daughter alone. Ukrainian counter-measures have improved, offering a model for other nations to develop preventive strategies, especially in schools.
How this story developed
- Sep 3 Ukraine reports heavy Russian personnel and equipment losses in ongoing war
- Sep 8 Russian drones attacked the Starokozache crossing in Odesa, killing two civilians and injuring three, while a separate strike set fire to a building in Kyiv.
- Sep 8 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he hopes to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in September to press for additional ballistic missiles.
- Sep 9 NATO fighters intercepted a Russian drone over Romanian airspace.
- Sep 9 Ukrainian drones also struck the Russian Black Sea naval base in Novorossisk.
- Sep 9 Russian drones hit a border crossing in Ukraine’s Odesa region, killing two civilians, and set fire to a building in Kyiv.
- Sep 11 Sea drones detonated on the Sochi promenade, injuring civilians and prompting evacuations.
- Sep 11 Ukrainian intelligence now reports that daily Russian casualties regularly exceed recruitment capacity.
- Sep 11 Ukrainian drone strikes killed civilians in the Tula and Kursk regions.
- Sep 11 Putin warned Russian strikes on British bases would be kept secret after Britain agreed to share missile schematics with Ukraine.
- Sep 12 Russia issued the closure order as retaliation for Germany’s shutdown of the Russian consulate in Bonn.
- Sep 12 Zelensky said missile assistance will be a key agenda item for the September meeting.
- Sep 12 A Russian drone struck a multi-storey residential building in Odesa on Sept 12, wounding at least twelve people who were taken to hospital.
- Sep 12 A separate drone attack in Zaporizhzhia killed two people.
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