The enemy is operating under the guise of law enforcement: Ukrainians are being encouraged to carry out sabotage

Security Service of Ukraine July 3 2026 reported that Russian special services are attempting to mass-recruit Ukrainians “under a false flag”. According to counterintelligence, representatives of the Russian Federation pose as employees of the SBU, the National Police and other law enforcement agencies, and then by various pretexts force citizens to prepare arson attacks, terrorist attacks, sabotage and other crimes.

The SBU noted that just during 2026 together with the National Police they have already uncovered dozens of similar recruitment attempts. To do this the enemy calls people or messages them in messengers, posing as employees of Ukrainian security forces, uses customer databases of online stores to obtain personal data, and also blackmails with fabricated criminal liability.

One of the most common schemes is the distribution of fake summonses supposedly calling people in for questioning by the SBU. To make such “documents” plausible, forged signatures of Service officials are added. After that the person is informed of a non-existent criminal proceeding and offered supposed “help” in exchange for carrying out criminal tasks.

As the special service reports, the recruited may be forced to follow people, carry packages, buy chemical substances to make explosives, set fire to Defense Forces vehicles, burn administrative buildings or even prepare terrorist attacks at important facilities. In some cases Russian handlers also demand money from the victims — supposedly to “close the case” or to “verify authenticity”.

The SBU separately emphasized that it acts strictly within the law, does not assign citizens any dubious tasks and does not send official documents via messengers. That is why Ukrainians are urged to be especially vigilant about any such messages, calls or “summonses”.

If you receive such “offers”, notice suspicious people or objects, or have information about pages and accounts the enemy uses for recruitment, the SBU asks you to report it immediately via the chatbot “Expose the FSB operative”, by calling 1516 or by email to callcenter@ssu.gov.ua.