“The SBU's counterintelligence has prevented large-scale sabotage on the Ukrzaliznytsya state railroad facilities,” the SBU wrote.

“As part of a special operation, a network of Russian GRU agents was detected and neutralized which had received orders to cause a series of explosions on railroads on which armaments and equipment for the Ukrainian army are delivered to the front. The SBU managed to catch a Russian agent who was preparing to derail the first train using an improvised device.”

The person recruited by the Russians was a resident of the western Ukrainian city of Rivne and was working under orders from a GRU unit in Crimea, the SBU said.

Two agents working with him, stationed on the Russian-occupied peninsula, had requested $100,000 from the Russians for carrying out the sabotage. According to the SBU, the men intended to misappropriate most of this sum and give just 40% to the person performing the sabotage.