Polish officers have detained a Ukrainian accused of trying to murder a figure from Ukraine's weapons sector on Moscow's orders, Reuters reported. Investigators say his homemade explosive failed to detonate, and he fled to Poland, where officers detained him. The case is the latest in a run of Russian-directed plots targeting people tied to Ukraine across Europe.

A car bomb that failed

The suspect, named only as Serhii P. under Polish privacy rules, allegedly went after a figure in Ukraine's weapons sector in Irpin, a town in Kyiv Oblast just northwest of the capital. The ABW, Poland's Internal Security Agency, said he planted an improvised explosive device under a car used by the potential victim. The device was meant to be set off remotely with a cellphone, but it "did not detonate due to a malfunction," the agency said.

The suspect, a 63-year-old Ukrainian, fled to Poland after the attempt collapsed and was arrested in Warsaw on 5 August 2026, the Ukrainian outlet NV says. Polish authorities announced the arrest on 20 August and said it kept him from using Poland as a hideout while he dodged investigators. Prosecutors charged him with trying to kill with a bomb and with holding explosives without a permit. The charges carry a floor of 15 years behind bars and a ceiling of life, they said.

Explore further

Ukraine detains organizer of defense industry event struck by Russian missile that killed 10, charged with negligence

The ABW framed the case as proof that Russian intelligence runs operations far beyond its own borders, using people who move between countries to do the work. For years, Kyiv and Western capitals have said Moscow enlists people — Ukrainians among them — to run sabotage and spying missions, a charge Russia keeps rejecting.

A pattern across Europe

The plot fits a wider Russian campaign. Weeks earlier, Warsaw detained a Russian man whom Moscow had allegedly recruited to murder a Ukrainian-American in the same city. 

Earlier this year, Ukrainian investigators recently exposed a coordinated scheme to kill a Russian dissident and Ukraine supporter in Lithuania, German prosecutors filed sabotage charges against a Ukrainian and a Latvian, and an earlier plot targeted the chief of German arms-maker Rheinmetall.

Poland and the Baltic States have been named prime targets for Russian sabotage over their backing for Kyiv.

Azerbaijan's top diplomat stood in the town that stopped Russia's drive on Kyiv and offered Ukraine help. Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has visited Irpin in Kyiv Oblast as part of an official visit to Ukraine, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said on X.

The visit is a marker of how far Baku has swung toward Kyiv as its relations with Moscow have collapsed. Ukrainian-Azerbaijani ties improved sharply in 2024 and 2025 after a series of aggressive Russian actions, including Russian forces shooting down an Azerbaijani airliner near Grozny in December 2024, killing 38, and later raids that killed two Azerbaijani citizens, prompting Baku to openly strengthen ties with Kyiv.

Bayramov chose to visit Irpin, the town that became a legendary bulwark against Russia's 2022 advance on Kyiv, where Russia killed some 300 civilians and left over 70% of housing destroyed before its liberation on 28 March 2022, Ukrainska Pravda reports.

Baku offers gas and energy cooperation

At a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Bayramov made a specific offer. Azerbaijan is ready to supply gas to Ukraine if needed and to expand cooperation on energy security, including the use of Ukraine's underground gas storage, he said, per Ukrinform.

Energy is the anchor of the relationship. Bayramov called energy cooperation one of the most important areas of economic ties between the countries, noting that Azerbaijan's state oil company, SOCAR, has been present on the Ukrainian market for a decade and has plans for future energy cooperation.

Ukraine's gas storage is an asset

Bayramov called Ukraine's underground gas storage system, the largest in Europe, a very important asset and said an extremely dynamic dialogue is underway between Baku and Kyiv on key elements of energy cooperation.

That storage matters strategically. Ukraine's vast underground capacity offers a route to move Caspian gas into Europe as an alternative to Russian supplies, part of why Russia has bombed Ukraine's southern gas infrastructure. An Azerbaijani offer to use it deepens a partnership Russia has reason to want severed.