"It's not worth it - they'll either put you in jail or blow you up." Ukrainian teenagers recruited to sabotage their own country

He says he was promised $2,000 to plant a bomb in a van using TCC.

"When I was connecting the wires, I thought it might explode. I thought I might die," he told the BBC.

Vlad is one of hundreds of children and teenagers who Ukrainian intelligence agencies say are being recruited online by Russia and offered money to sabotage their own country.

His name has been changed to protect his anonymity.

The boy says he was ordered to set his phone so that his superior could see a live feed from the scene, so that he could remotely detonate the device if someone got into the car.

However, the Security Service of Ukraine monitored and prevented the attack.

Vlad is now 18 years old. He is awaiting trial on terrorism charges, for which he could receive 12 years in prison. In the detention center in Rivne, under heavy guard and with his lawyer, he admits that he could have been responsible for someone's death.

"I thought about it. But they don't like CCC employees," he says. "I thought, 'Well, I'm going to be like everybody else.'"

The SBU claims to have identified more than 800 Ukrainians recruited by Russia over the past two years. 240 of them are minors, and some are only 11 years old.

However, cybersecurity expert Anastasia Apetik, who teaches Internet safety courses in Ukraine, knows of cases involving even younger children.

"They tried to recruit children as young as nine or ten," she says.

For example, in August, a court in Zhytomyr sentenced another 16-year-old boy to four years in prison for preparing a terrorist attack. He pleaded guilty. As in most other such cases, the motive was personal enrichment.

The boy received money in a crypto account for carrying out tasks. He received detailed instructions from his superiors on how to make explosives - he bought components, made a homemade explosive device disguised as a pot and planted it near the Military Administration of the Zhytomyr Region. However, he was detained by the SBU.

During the trial, he "undoubtedly admitted his guilt," court documents state. Among the mitigating circumstances are "sincere remorse" and "active assistance in solving the crime."

In October, the court considered the well-known case of a minor high school graduate from Chortkiv in the Ternopil region. According to court documents, the boy was recruited via Telegram by an FSB representative, and he planted a backpack with explosives under a military vehicle. After receiving operational information, police officers simulated the crime scene: they replaced the real explosive with a safe one.

The minor admitted his guilt, repented and agreed to cooperate with the investigation. The court sentenced him to five years in prison, but conditionally released him from serving the sentence.

Targeted strategy

Andriy Nebitov, deputy chief of the National Police of Ukraine, says there is a targeted strategy to find vulnerable populations that can be manipulated.

"Children are not always fully aware of the consequences of their actions," he says. "The enemy does not hesitate to use minors to make explosives from household chemicals, placing them in various places, such as army recruitment points or police stations."

The SBU says that recruitment mainly takes place through the Telegram application, as well as TikTok and even video game platforms. According to officials, those who are recruited are almost always motivated by money, not pro-Russian commitment.

Vlad says that he does not support Russia and that he has not been involved in crime before.

He posted on Telegram that he was looking for a remote job. Within half an hour, the man who introduced himself as Roman answered. When they spoke on the phone later, Vlad says Roman spoke Russian.

Vlad says he was hesitant at first, but was persuaded to take on a series of increasingly dangerous tasks. He was initially told to take a grenade, but when he arrived at a designated location, it was gone. In any case, he was paid $30.

A few days later, another task followed: to set fire to a van belonging to a recruiting station, film it, and escape.

For this attack, Vlad says, he received about $100 in cryptocurrency - far less than the $1,500 he was promised.

Roman told him he would get the rest if he planted a bomb in Rivne.

Cash for chaos

The Telegram channels seen by the BBC, which are used for recruitment, are not overtly pro-Russian. But they are fueling anger among some Ukrainians against CCC workers, who are often accused of brutality and corruption.

Using an unofficial phone number and pseudonym, we joined several of the channels we had been notified about.

The channels contained videos of fires and explosions allegedly carried out on their orders.

But the BBC was unable to confirm the circumstances surrounding these videos.

One account we contacted immediately offered to pay for the arson, either in cryptocurrency or by bank transfer. We were told to contact another account for more information, and then received a message with a price list.

It details how much they offer for different targets.

The payments ranged from $1,500 for burning the post office to $3,000 for the bank. Banks cost more, they explained, because the protective glass makes it more difficult to attack.

"Either you need to pour gasoline inside or throw a few Molotov cocktails," they advised us.

But even ordinary Ukrainians looking for work can be offered money for sabotage.

We found high-paying ads for casual, part-time jobs posted in various Ukrainian Telegram groups, some of which targeted refugees and included beauty tips, for example. When we checked out one of these groups, the recruiter again offered thousands of dollars for arson and asked for video as proof.

"I need all the flares I can get," he wrote. "Finding a trustworthy person is much more difficult than parting with money. That's why I pay exactly what I say, and I do it very quickly, usually within a few hours of receiving the video."

BBC je prijavio Telegramu niz takvih kanala, računa, chatova i botova – neke je uklonio, ali ne većinu.

One of the channels, which is still active, has grown by more than 750 subscribers since we started following it. And an account we reported to Telegram that offered us direct payment for arson is still active.

In a statement, Telegram said: “Calls for violence or destruction of property are strictly prohibited on Telegram and are removed immediately upon detection.”

Ukrainian authorities have publicly named members of Russian intelligence services suspected of collaborating with the saboteurs.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify whether the Russian state itself is responsible. However, several European governments have said they have evidence that Russian agents are recruiting young men for acts of vandalism, arson or even surveillance in their countries.

In the UK, six men have been jailed for their role in an arson attack on a London warehouse delivering aid to Ukraine, ordered by Russia. In Ukraine, hundreds of alleged saboteurs are awaiting trial, some with potentially fatal consequences. Several suspects have died from the explosives they attempted to plant.

The SBU claims that Russian saboteurs are deliberately detonating devices remotely to kill their agents.

In March, a 17-year-old was killed and a 15-year-old was seriously injured when a bomb they were carrying exploded at a train station in Ivano-Frankivsk.

The BBC has verified the SBU's allegations at the Russian Embassy in London.

In a statement provided to the BBC, they accuse Ukraine of a similar sabotage campaign using Russian nationals.  

“The practice you mention has become a hallmark of Ukrainian special services. Specifically: recruiting civilians, including children, to set fires, sabotage or explode bombs against people, buildings or vehicles.”

Reports of sabotage inside Russia being linked to Ukrainian recruitment via Telegram have indeed been filed. But again, it is extremely difficult to verify who exactly is behind these attacks.

In the meantime, Vlad has a message for others who might fall for the recruiters’ influence.

“It’s not worth it. Either they’ll trick you and then you’ll go to prison like me, or you can take a bomb and it will simply blow you up.”