Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Polish prosecutors have charged five people – four Ukrainian citizens and one Russian – with carrying out sabotage on behalf of Russia that involved planting explosives in packages that were then dispatched by courier services across Europe.
Three of the items exploded: one at Birmingham Airport in the United Kingdom, one at Leipzig Airport in Germany, and another while being transported on a Polish road. The group also sent test packages to the United States and Canada to check those routes.
Prokurator z mazowieckiego wydziału PZ PK skierował do Sądu Okręgowego w Warszawie akt oskarżenia przeciwko pięciu osobom oskarżonym o działanie na rzecz rosyjskiego wywiadu i udział w aktach sabotażu polegających na wysyłaniu przesyłek kurierskich z ukrytymi urządzeniami…
— Prokuratura (@PK_GOV_PL) January 16, 2026
Poland’s investigation into the alleged plot began in August 2024, based on information gathered by the Internal Security Agency (ABW).
Prosecutors established that, between June and August, the suspects sent four parcels containing incendiary devices along with flammable and explosive substances hidden within everyday items, such as massage pillows and cosmetics.
The items were then sent through courier companies DHL and DPD from Vilnius in Lithuania to addresses in Warsaw, Poland, as well as London and Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
In July 2024, three of the packages combusted: one at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham Airport, one in a DHL container at Leipzig Airport (where it was on its way to London), and one in a lorry while it was being transported on a Polish road. The fourth package “did not ignite for technical reasons”, say prosecutors.
The group also sent two “test shipments” from Warsaw to the United States and Canada “in order to check logistics channels and the time required for international shipment transportation, particularly by air”.
“The defendants’ actions aimed to undermine the security and destabilise the logistics and aviation infrastructure of EU countries, the UK, and Poland, as well as to influence social and political attitudes regarding the war in Ukraine,” wrote the Polish prosecutors.
They also noted that the cost of the damage caused by their actions is estimated at 2.9 million zloty (€690,000).
Interpol has published red notices for two men that Poland says were responsible for carrying out the sabotage of a rail line last month on behalf of Russia
The pair immediately fled to Belarus after the incident and their current location is unknown https://t.co/RnahHDQkC8
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 18, 2025
On Friday, Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office announced that five individuals have been charged over their alleged involvement in the plot. Under Polish privacy law, they can be named only as Vladyslav D., Viacheslav C., Vladyslav B. and Serhii Y. – all Ukrainian citizens – and Aleksandr B., a Russian.
All have been charged with preparing and committing acts of sabotage of a terrorist nature on behalf of foreign intelligence, in this case Russian intelligence. The accused, who have all been placed in pretrial detention, could face life imprisonment if found guilty.
The evidence gathered by prosecutors has also led them to want to bring charges against a sixth individual, also Russian, named as Yaroslav M, but his location remains unknown. The Polish authorities have initiated domestic and international search efforts while also filing an extradition request to Azerbaijan.
Polish prosecutors have filed five charges against a Russian man accused of running an espionage and sabotage network in Poland.
He is alleged to have coordinated a group of at least 30 operatives on behalf of Russia’s Federal Security Service https://t.co/BMpdFFLFQg
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 2, 2025
Poland has in recent years been hit by a series of so-called “hybrid actions” carried out by operatives working on behalf of Russia, including sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation.
In many cases, the Russian security services have recruited Ukrainians and Belarusians, often already based in Poland, to carry out those actions. Their actions have included starting a fire that in 2024 destroyed Warsaw’s largest shopping centre and, in September last year, an attack on a rail line.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: MarcelX42/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 4.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
