"Easy" Work Trap: How Russia Recruited Ukrainian Teens For Sabotage

Russia recruited Ukrainian teenagers through Telegram to carry out attacks and acts of sabotage in their own country, according to Ukrainian authorities. Moscow also reportedly paid these young recruits. 

At least 13 minors, including five girls, are now serving prison sentences in Ukraine in cases linked to such activities, while more than 300 juveniles have been detained in similar cases, according to The Washington Post.

The teenagers were often offered money for what appeared to be simple jobs. They were later asked to set fire to railway equipment, military-related property or other buildings, or to plant explosives, the outlet stated. Ukrainian officials said many of the young people came from poor families and were attracted by the money offered to them online.

One of them is Yaroslav Suzanskyi, who was 16 when he came across a Telegram advertisement offering around $165 for an “easy” job. He later found out that the job involved setting fire to a railway relay cabinet.

After completing the task, Suzanskyi was offered 60,000 Ukrainian hryvnias, or around $1,430, for another assignment. He was sent to a hotel near Kyiv, where two backpacks had been left for him. One backpack contained military clothing, while the other had a taped box with wires. Suzanskyi initially thought it was a device used to block signals but later learned that it was an explosive.

He was travelling by taxi to a library to carry out the assignment when Ukrainian intelligence officers stopped him. “Those 60,000 turned into five years,” Suzanskyi said, referring to his prison sentence, the Post reported.

Suzanskyi said his family had been struggling financially after his father and stepfather were drafted into the war. He said he had only about 200 hryvnias, or roughly $5, when he answered the Telegram advertisement in December 2024.

Another teenager, 17-year-old Oleksii Babakov, was accused of recruiting other young people for similar activities. He allegedly recruited a former friend, identified only as Vikentii, who was 15 at the time. 

Vikentii said he was initially told he would only have to make explosive devices. He later learned that he was expected to plant one. He eventually left an explosive device in a rubbish bin outside a police station in Kharkiv. No one was injured in the blast.

Vikentii was later sentenced to three years in prison for committing a terrorist act, while Babakov received a four-year sentence for inciting and assisting a terrorist attack.

Another teenager, 17-year-old Maksym Parshyn, said he turned to Telegram after struggling to find legitimate work because of his age. He accepted $300 to set fire to a railway relay cabinet and later took part in other assignments, including filming a friend setting fire to a post office.

“I needed money,” he said. “If I hadn't needed it, I wouldn't have done it at all.”

Ukraine Deputy Justice Minister Yevhen Pikalov said, "They did not do it with the motive of destroying the Ukrainian state. They didn't do it because they love Russia. $500 on Telegram, that's it."

The United Nations human rights office reported last year that there had been a rise in credible allegations that Russia was using Ukrainian children to conduct surveillance and carry out acts of sabotage and arson against military-linked targets or public property.

Russia has denied the allegations and has accused Ukrainian intelligence agencies of recruiting Russian minors for sabotage inside Russia.

The teenagers convicted in these cases are being held at a juvenile correctional facility in Kremenchuk. The facility provides education, sports and other activities, while access to mobile phones and social media is restricted.