STUTTGART, Germany – Three Ukrainians go on trial in Germany on Tuesday, for allegedly plotting sabotage attacks in Germany and Ukraine as part of what Berlin calls a campaign of Russian “hybrid” operations.
The suspects are accused of trying to send parcels that would “ignite in Germany or elsewhere on their way to parts of Ukraine not occupied by Russia”.
Prosecutors say the attacks were intended to “cause as much damage as possible in order to undermine the population’s sense of security”.
The men will go on trial in Stuttgart on charges of conspiring to commit arson and acting as foreign agents for the purpose of carrying out sabotage.
In preparation, 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 Ukraine’s postal service.
According to German federal prosecutors, the operation was “ordered by a Russian intelligence service through intermediaries in Mariupol,” a Ukrainian city devastated by Russian bombing and currently occupied by Russian troops.
One of the accused, identified only as 30-year-old Yevhen B., was arrested in Switzerland in May 2025 before being extradited to German authorities in December.
The two other defendants — 22-year-old Daniil B. 22 and 25-year-old Vladyslav T. — were arrested in Konstanz and Cologne.
Germany has been on high alert for sabotage plots directed from Moscow since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Germany, a major supplier of weapons and other military aid to Ukraine, has repeatedly accused Russia 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.
