Russia today announced the arrest of a man it accuses of plotting sabotage on behalf of Ukraine aiming to install railway infrastructure in the annexed Crimean peninsula.

A “resident of Sevastopol was arrested,” Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement. “On instructions” from Kiev, he was “preparing a terrorist attack on a railway facility” to “disrupt military transport”.

The FSB clarifies that it discovered an “explosive device” in the man’s “hideout”.who was born in 1978, was placed in temporary custody and against whom “criminal proceedings” have been brought.

The Russian-appointed governor of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, he warned that transport infrastructure has become a privileged target of “terrorism” and that the saboteurs will be punished.

“An unenviable fate awaits Ukrainian agents. They will be identified and punished,” he said.

Aksyonov then said that a Ukrainian drone had been shot down over the northern part of the peninsula, but gave no further details.

Crimea, critical for supplying Russian forces fighting in southern Ukraine, has been the target of Ukrainian strikes several times since the Russian offensive began in February 2022.

In late August, Ukraine said it had carried out a cruise operation in annexed Crimea and that he raised the national flag there, in a symbolic success.

Ukrainian military intelligence, which does not comment publicly on operations in occupied territories, had also claimed the destruction of a Russian surface-to-air missile system on the peninsula.

Ukraine has vowed to release all of its territory seized by Russia since it launched its invasion in February 2022, as well as Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014 and defended tooth and nail by the Russian army.