STUTTGART, Germany: Three Ukrainians went on trial in Germany on Tuesday over a suspected arson sabotage plot against Germany and Ukraine that Berlin believes was part of Russian “hybrid” operations.
The suspects facing a Stuttgart court are accused of taking part in a test run to send explosive parcels that would “ignite in Germany or elsewhere on their way to parts of Ukraine not occupied by Russia.”
The men allegedly posted test packages containing GPS trackers from the German cities of Konstanz and Cologne to Ukraine in March 2025 to figure out the transport routes used by postal services.
German prosecutors charge the operation was “ordered by a Russian intelligence service through intermediaries in Mariupol,” a Ukrainian city devastated by Russian bombing and now occupied by Russian troops.
The attack plot was intended to ultimately “cause as much damage as possible in order to undermine the population’s sense of security,” according to prosecutors.
The men face charges of conspiring to commit arson and acting as foreign agents for the purpose of carrying out sabotage.
One of the accused, 30-year-old Yevhen Bezchasnyi, was arrested in Switzerland in May 2025 before being extradited to Germany in December.
The two others — 22-year-old Daniil Bielskyi and 25-year-old Vladyslav Tkachenko — were arrested in Konstanz and Cologne.
Tkachenko’s defense lawyer Martin Heising charged that the prosecution case was “structurally weak” and denied that that there had been any “plot.”
The hearing was adjourned on Tuesday morning until Thursday. Dozens of hearings are planned until September.
- Spate of incidents -
Germany, a major supplier of weapons and other military aid to Kyiv, has been on high alert for sabotage plots directed from Moscow since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Berlin has repeatedly accused Moscow of waging a broader campaign of sabotage, espionage and misinformation against Germany and its European allies.
German police and intelligence agencies have accused Russia of sabotaging communications cables and railway lines, and say Moscow is likely behind a spate of drone incidents across Europe.
The Kremlin has denied responsibility.
The case going to trial on Tuesday in Stuttgart is reminiscent of an alleged plot to mail “home-made explosive-incendiary devices” from Lithuania to destinations across Europe in July 2024.
Parcels went off at DHL logistics facilities in the United Kingdom and in the eastern German city of Leipzig.
Five suspects in that scheme are now on trial in Poland, and five more were charged by Lithuanian prosecutors earlier this month.
Prosecutors and intelligence officials in several European countries believe that Russia was ultimately behind the plot.
German courts have also been busy with a number of other sabotage and espionage cases linked to Russia.
In late January, police arrested a German-Ukrainian woman in Berlin, accused of using her contacts with former German military officials to spy for Russia.
In December, an Armenian, a Ukrainian and a Russian went on trial for allegedly working with Russian intelligence to tail a former Ukrainian soldier for a possible assassination plot.
A Munich court in October sentenced a German-Russian national to six years in jail for spying for Moscow and plotting sabotage acts to undermine Germany’s support for Ukraine.
