Russia recruiting Ukrainian minors via Telegram for terror attacks in their country; 13 already serving time

Teenagers from disadvantaged families in Ukraine are being recruited through Telegram ads promising small payments, to set fires and carry out bomb attacks in their country, with more than 300 arrested and 13 already serving time according to reports.

Russia is recruiting Ukrainian children and teenagers through Telegram, paying them relatively small amounts to set fires at infrastructure, assemble bomb charges and attack targets in their country. According to Ukrainian Justice Ministry data unveiled on Sunday, at least 13 minors, including five girls, are already serving prison sentences in cases related to activities on behalf of Russia. More than 300 additional teenagers have been arrested on similar suspicions, and some are still under investigation.

Yaroslav Suzneski was 16 when he encountered a Telegram ad on the platform that promised 'easy money.' According to reports, for about 165 dollars, he was asked to carry out a bomb attack: to set fire to a railroad switching box. Today Suzneski is 18 and imprisoned in a juvenile offender institution in the city of Kremenchuk. Eight of 72 prisoners in the facility where he is held have been convicted of security offenses or offenses against public peace related to Russia.

After setting fire to the rail facility, Suzneski received a bigger offer: a man named Artem offered him 60,000 hryvnias, about 1,430 dollars, in exchange for a task involving a bomb charge. He was sent to a hotel in the suburbs of Kyiv, and outside his room two backpacks were left: one with army uniforms, and in the other a box wrapped in tape from which wires stuck out. According to him, he initially thought it was a communications jamming device, and only later realized it was a bomb charge. He was sent by taxi to a library, but Ukrainian intelligence officers arrested him there before he completed the mission. 'Those 60,000 hryvnias turned into five years in prison,' he said.

Suzneski was 13 when the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began. His father and stepfather were drafted into the army, and his mother was left to support three children alone. According to him, a bureaucratic error led to the suspension of support payments the family received, and it fell into debt. In December 2024, ahead of his younger brother's birthday and winter holidays, only 200 hryvnias remained in his pocket, about five dollars, and then he replied to the Telegram ad.

Another case is that of Aleksei Babkov, now 17, who lived for about eight months under Russian occupation in the city of Vovchansk. After moving to Poland, he too encountered an ad promising easy money, and his handlers asked him to recruit additional young people. One of those recruited was Vikenty, age 15, who according to Babkov could earn up to 3,000 dollars a month. Vikenty placed a bomb charge in a trash can outside a police station in Kharkiv: 'When I blew up the charge, I realized I did something very wrong,' he said, and added that no one was hurt. Babkov also recruited a 15-year-old girl who placed a charge outside another police station, and in that explosion too there were no casualties.