Russia thwarted a series of terrorist attacks in Kherson.

"Valery Panchuk was arrested in the Kherson region on September 21. Under the coordination of an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense named Vitaly, he planned to detonate explosives to destroy two high-voltage power poles supplying electricity to the Kherson and Zaporozhye provinces, as well as the Republic of Crimea," the source said.

A second saboteur was discovered in the city of Boryslav and neutralized on September 19th after resisting with a weapon.

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"10 kg of TNT explosives were seized on the spot, as well as a map marking civilian infrastructure in Boryslav where this man planned to carry out terrorist attacks, including during the referendum," the source stated.

Footage of the raid clearly shows the vandal being neutralized while hiding in a private house, from which he opened fire on Russian security forces. As a result, he was killed by Russian troops using a grenade launcher.

At the scene of the clash, in addition to TNT explosives, authorities seized three improvised explosive devices containing lethal components, three bottles likely used to make Molotov cocktail bombs, a charred Kalashnikov assault rifle, and RPG-22 and RPG-26 grenade launchers.

According to a Russian security officer, the recently neutralized saboteur arrived in Boryslav on September 12th. He obtained TNT from a secret weapons depot hidden by Panchuk and fabricated an improvised explosive device, which he intended to use against local government officials, police, National Guard forces, and local residents who did not support the Kiev regime.

The arrested man, identified as Panchuk, stated that he had previously served in the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. After Russia began its special operations, a man named Vitaly approached him, introducing himself as a Ukrainian intelligence officer. According to the arrested man's testimony, this man ordered him to report the deployment locations of Russian troops and equipment near factories in Nova Kakhovka, including the Nova Kakhovka Electromechanical Plant NKEMZ, supplied TNT explosives, and tasked the former police officer with detonating explosives to destroy power lines in Nova Kakhovka.

“I was heading in this direction, where there are power poles carrying lines across the lake toward Crimea… I didn’t understand which poles to blow up, so I filmed and took pictures. I didn’t know exactly which poles; they told me I had to detonate some of them,” the recently arrested vandal confessed.

He explained that, fearing he would be blown to death if he didn't get to safety in time after detonating the explosives, he returned to store them in a warehouse for the second saboteur, someone he had spoken to on the phone but insisted he didn't know their name.

Russian security forces provided Sputnik with a transcript of correspondence between the two saboteurs discussing planting and removing explosives from the warehouse.

Russian security agencies also urged the people of Kherson not to heed such provocations by Ukrainian special forces, which compel citizens to commit acts of terrorism and sabotage in liberated territories.

"Don't put yourself and your loved ones in danger, because any crime will certainly be punished," concluded the Russian law enforcement officer.