A German court on Monday convicted a Ukrainian man of spying for Russia and preparing a sabotage operation involving incendiary parcels, in the latest case highlighting Moscow’s use of foreign nationals to carry out hybrid attacks on European soil.
The higher regional court in Stuttgart sentenced the 30-year-old defendant, identified only as Yevhen B., to one year and three months in prison for “spying for the purposes of sabotage.” Two co-defendants, Vladyslav T. and Daniil B., were acquitted. The court ruled that time already served in pre-trial detention would count toward the sentence, meaning Yevhen B. is expected to be released immediately.
How the plot unfolded
The three Ukrainian nationals were arrested in Germany and Switzerland in May 2025 after investigators uncovered a scheme to send GPS-tracked parcels via a postal service to Ukraine as reconnaissance for a planned Russian intelligence-orchestrated arson and bombing operation. According to prosecutors, the men were preparing to ship incendiary packages designed to ignite either in Germany or somewhere along the delivery route.
The court found that Yevhen B., who had recently been residing in Switzerland before his extradition to Germany last December, was the only defendant who could be proven to have knowingly participated in the intelligence-gathering operation. The other two were cleared of involvement.
Pattern of hybrid operations
The Stuttgart verdict comes just days after a Munich court sentenced a 41-year-old German-Russian national to six years in prison for espionage, planning acts of sabotage, and participating in a paramilitary formation in eastern Ukraine between 2014 and 2016. That defendant, identified as Dieter S., was found to have helped plan attacks on railway lines and military infrastructure in Germany on behalf of Russian intelligence.
Western intelligence agencies have increasingly warned about the surging number of suspected Russian-backed hybrid operations across Europe. Moscow frequently employs Ukrainian nationals for such activities, sometimes offering financial reward and in other cases using coercion or blackmail. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency chief Sinan Selen warned in recent weeks that the country faces “a wide range of Russian actions” including “low-level agents, cyberattacks, disinformation and tangible sabotage.”
The cases underscore a growing consensus in European security circles that Russia is waging a sustained campaign of subversion below the threshold of conventional military conflict, targeting infrastructure, supply chains, and public confidence across the continent.
Sources: Kyiv Independent; Arab News; DW; Euronews; Global Espreso
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