Russia recruiting kids via social media for terror attacks, SBU warns parents

That’s according to the agency’s press service, Ukrinform reports.

"The Security Service of Ukraine on a daily basis counteracts attempts by Russian intelligence to recruit Ukrainian minors to use them as a ‘tool’ for terrorist attacks. Russia is currently on a targeted hunt for children on social media," the statement says.

In particular, handlers promise teenagers “easy money for a simple job”: to pick up a package somewhere and bring it somewhere else. But instead of the promised reward, enemy intelligence remotely detonates explosives together with the ‘courier’, thus removing witnesses and destroying evidence.

This is exactly how the situation developed in Ivano-Frankivsk, where one recruited teenager died and another had his legs amputated after the enemy blew up the “package”. In Kharkiv region, the FSB used a 15-year-old teenager as a suicide bomber.

“Often parents do not even suspect that their child is in danger. Therefore, the SBU calls on parents to explain their children that offers of ‘easy money’ from strangers on social media are a death trap. Tell them about real tragedies that have already happened to their peers. Spread the word among friends who have teenage children,” the SBU emphasized.

To quickly report a recruitment attempt, there is an official SBU chatbot “Spaly FSBshnyka” at t.me/spaly_fsb_bot where anyone can report what crime they were offered to commit and a recruiter’s contacts.