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Ukraine detains suspected Russian agent accused of plotting a chemical spill

Fighting is still simmering in eastern Ukraine despite a 2015 truce that put an end to major hostilities - Anatolii Stepanov/AFP
Fighting is still simmering in eastern Ukraine despite a 2015 truce that put an end to major hostilities - Anatolii Stepanov/AFP

Ukraine's security service has detained a suspected Russian agent who was allegedly planning to blow up an ammonia tank in the country’s war-torn east.

Ukraine’s SBU secret agency claims the unidentified Ukrainian national is an agent of Russia’s FSB intelligence agency, tasked with targeting key infrastructure of the Luhansk region.

The FSB did not have immediate comment.

The man was reportedly caught red-handed in the city of Severodonetsk, a few dozen miles away from the separatist-controlled area, as he was retrieving two grenade launchers from a weapons cache for the attack that was supposed to blow up a 3.5 tonne ammonia tank at a local chemical plant.

Ammonia is a highly toxic substance, and a spill would have endangered lives and caused environmental damage.

Footage released by the SBU on Wednesday showed the man lying on his stomach following the arrest, with SBU agents finding two grenade launchers in a gym bag nearby.

The man, who was previously wanted by Ukrainian police for fighting alongside Russia-backed separatists is now in custody facing charges of sabotage, the SBU said.

The conflict between pro-Russian separatists and government troops in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 13,000 lives and displaced a million people since it erupted in 2014.

Major hostilities died down after a 2015 truce but fighting is still simmering, and large swathes of Ukraine’s industrial east remain under separatist control.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, has been pushing for a peaceful solution to the deadly conflict since he assumed office last year.

Hopes for a peace settlement emerged when Mr Zelenskiy sat down for talks with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, last year and saw through two major prison swaps that secured the release of more than 200 Ukrainian prisoners from separatist custody.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said on Wednesday that it was too early to talk about a new round of peace talks for eastern Ukraine.