Two police officers have been injured in an explosion that authorities say was a terrorist act in the town of Bucha near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
An explosion occurred on a residential street in the early hours of Monday. When police arrived at the site, a second blast took place, injuring two officers.
Police arrested a 21-year-old local resident who they say was recruited online to carry out the two explosions. They did not share what platform the suspect had been recruited on, but a security source told the BBC it had been done through the online game World of Tanks.
He says he just wanted to make some money and was promised 25,000 hryvnyas [£450; $570] for each blast, the Kyiv Region Criminal Investigations Directorate head, Andriy Kravchuk, told the media at the scene.
The Ukrainian security service SBU issued a statement calling the suspect a Russian agent. However, police are working to establish who recruited the suspect and are not confirming any links to Russia.
They released footage of the suspect being questioned, in which he claims he was blackmailed into planting the explosives. The man stated that those he communicated with over the internet told him they knew where his mother was and could see her from a drone.
Either you do what we tell you or something happens to your mum, they allegedly threatened him.
The suspect has been charged with terrorism. Kravchuk stated that the two injured police officers received injuries to their limbs, which are not believed to be life-threatening.
Local resident Viktoria Ivasyshyna reported hearing a very loud explosion and immediately realizing it was not a civilian or industrial accident.
In a post on Facebook, the town council noted that eyewitnesses felt the shock wave and all emergency services quickly arrived at the scene. This incident follows a series of similar attacks throughout Ukraine, raising concerns about public safety and the influence of radicalization through digital platforms.
