A Ukrainian man is sentenced to 8 years in Poland for planning sabotage on Russia's behalf

A Polish soldier at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

WARSAW, Poland — A Polish court on Friday handed an eight-year prison term to a Ukrainian man convicted of planning acts of sabotage and arson on Russia’s behalf.

The court in the southwestern city of Wroclaw found the 51-year-old man, identified only as Serhyi S., guilty of being part of a criminal ring and of preparing to set fire to various structures in the city.

Polish state security officers arrested the man in January 2024 and he had remained under arrest. Poland’s Internal Security Agency alleged that he was acting for Russia.

Authorities said he was preparing to set fire to a U.S.-owned paint factory and to other objects.

The man has denied the charges, but admitted to accepting online orders from an unknown person to commit arson in return for money.

Four other people have been charged in the case and more than a dozen others of Polish, Ukrainian and Belarusian citizenship have been arrested in connection with other acts of sabotage or espionage.

Poland’s government says the country is being targeted by Russia as part of Moscow’s hybrid war on Western countries that support Poland’s neighbour Ukraine in its war against Russian invasion.

The Associated Press