The criminal prosecution actions in a case involving the preparation of assassinations of public figures in Ukraine resulted in the arrest of 11 suspects: four in Moldova, including the group coordinator, and seven in Ukraine. The group, led by a man from Chisinau with a background in Russia, planned attacks on a journalist, state officials, and Ukrainian military personnel, using weapons and explosives, reports IPN.

The Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases specifies that the targets of the group were a journalist included on the “extremists” list in Russia, one of the leaders of a strategic state enterprise, and Ukrainian military personnel, including fighters of the Foreign Legion. The executors were to be remunerated through electronic wallets.

According to PCCOCS, preparations for the contract killings began in December 2025. In the first stage, the main suspect convinced two people from Moldova to travel to Kiev to gather information about targets, disguising their activity under the role of couriers for a delivery company.

In the second stage, still in December, the suspect recruited 10 people to act as assassins and provided them with weapons and ammunition. The group members studied the victims’ routes and divided their roles – from shooting, to placing explosives, and actually carrying out the murders. To date, the authorities have identified all the involved members.

The main suspect, a 30-year-old from Chisinau, has a criminal record in Russia for drug trafficking and has maintained connections with coordinators from Russian special services via Telegram. The others detained in Moldova are two cohabitants and a young man, and the 10 recruits are aged between 19 and 43 years old and come from Chisinau, Comrat, Orhei and Tighina. Some of them have criminal records in Moldova, including for hooliganism and traffic offenses.

The prosecutors have filed charges against the four detainees in Moldova and have requested preventive arrest for 30 days.