Poland and Romania have detained eight individuals suspected of planning acts of sabotage on behalf of Russia, announced the authorities in Warsaw on Tuesday, specifying that three of the arrests are related to a new alleged plan to send explosive parcels, this time to Ukraine, while the Romanian Intelligence Service stated that it thwarted, in cooperation with national and international partners, a new sabotage operation orchestrated by the Russian Federation on Romanian territory.
“Preliminary information indicates that they created a certain route to send explosives through Poland and Romania to Ukraine,” Jacek Dobrzynski, the spokesman for the Coordinator of Special Services in Poland, told the press, according to Reuters. “One of them, a 21-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was detained here, in Poland, near Warsaw. His colleagues, who were heading to Romania, were arrested by the Romanian special services in Bucharest,” he added.
The National Prosecutor’s Office of Poland stated that the parcel transports were intercepted by Romanian authorities before causing any damage. According to prosecutors, the parcels were designed to self-ignite or explode during transport, the aim of the planned actions being to intimidate the population and destabilize the European Union countries that support Ukraine. Dobrzynski also stated that, in recent months, the Internal Security Agency detained a total of 55 people who acted against Poland and on behalf of Russian intelligence services.
In a separate statement, the Romanian Intelligence Service reported that in cooperation with DIICOT, MAI-DCCO and MApN-DGIA, as well as with external partner services, it prevented the commission of a new sabotage operation on national territory, involving two Ukrainian citizens, under the direct coordination of representatives of the Russian secret services, their goal being to destroy by fire a headquarters of the NOVA POST company in Bucharest.
Thus, the statement shows, between October 14-15, 2025, SRI identified and monitored two Ukrainian citizens who entered the national territory from Poland to Bucharest and who deposited at the NOVA POST headquarters in Bucharest two parcels containing remotely initiated incendiary devices, handmade, disguised in audio headphones and car parts, respectively GPS location monitoring components.
The involvement of own teams and specialized resources allowed the immediate identification of the incendiary parcels, their defusing and the prevention of the intentional or accidental initiation of the devices.
“At present, the judicial bodies, together with the police structures and those with responsibilities in the field of national security in our country, are conducting investigations, including in a partnership format, regarding the actions of the two Ukrainian citizens. The preliminary expertise reveals a complex modus operandi: the use of incendiary substances (thermite and barium nitrate), their disguise with the possibility of remote initiation, and the adoption by the two Ukrainian citizens of specific self-protection measures of the intelligence services. The data obtained confirm the affiliation of the two Ukrainian citizens to an extensive network of saboteurs targeting European countries, controlled by the Russian secret services. Their actions fall within the same operational pattern targeting the extensive infrastructure of the NOVA POST company – the largest private courier company in Ukraine,” the Romanian Intelligence Service further transmitted.
The specific actions taken by SRI, as well as the measures ordered with Romanian authorities and external partners led to the prevention of a sabotage attempt on national territory.
European officials have previously accused Russia of being behind explosions caused by parcels transported by DHL and DPD companies in Europe, in 2024, in an operation that security services described as a “test” for a Russian plan to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the United States. Moscow denied any such plans.
Poland claims it has been the target of tactics such as arson and cyber attacks, in a “hybrid war” waged by Russia to destabilize countries that support Kiev in the war triggered by Moscow in Ukraine. The Kremlin has rejected these accusations.