Russian sabotage: Poland charges five suspects over arson of Warsaw shopping center
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by TVP World, citing TVP Info.
Polish authorities quickly determined that the fire at the Warsaw shopping center on May 12, 2024, was an act of terrorism carried out by a network of agents recruited by Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU.
Following an investigation by the National Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, the identities of the suspects have now been established.
Of the five individuals who have been indicted, three will face charges of sabotage. Two of the suspects are believed to have been involved in attacks both in Poland and in the Baltic states.
The National Prosecutor’s Office stated that 19-year-old Ukrainian Danylo B. has been charged with “participating in an organized group aimed at committing crimes of sabotage and terrorist offenses consisting of starting fires in large-scale facilities located in European Union countries.”
These crimes were reportedly committed “with the aim of seriously intimidating many people and, consequently, influencing public opinion.” The actions were also intended to deliberately cast suspicion on Ukrainian citizens, TVP Info added, as they were most frequently recruited.
Prosecutors added that Danylo B. has also been charged with acting “on behalf of the intelligence services of the Russian Federation” after he filmed the fire at the Warsaw shopping center and sent the footage, which was later used by Russian media, to Oleksandr Varyvoda, the leader of a Russian sabotage group who is currently on an international wanted list.
The punishment for sabotage in Poland ranges from 10 years in prison to life imprisonment. However, Danylo B.’s case is complicated by the fact that he is not in Poland but is already imprisoned in Lithuania for setting fire to an IKEA store in Vilnius on May 8, 2024 – just days before the blaze in the Polish capital.
Oleksandr G. is the second individual charged with sabotage in both Poland and the Baltic states. Danylo B. met with Oleksandr G. in Warsaw in April 2024, after which, acting on instructions from the GRU, they agreed to set fire to IKEA shopping centers in Lithuania and Latvia for €10,000. The pair were detained by counterterrorism police on May 13 of the same year while traveling by bus from Poland to Latvia.
The third suspect is Belarusian national Stepan K., who has already been charged in Poland with committing eight crimes, including an attempted arson attack on a warehouse in Gdańsk in March 2024 and the arson of a pallet storage site in central Poland in April 2024.
In addition, Stepan K. is alleged to have been linked to a gang led by a known Polish crime figure, Olgierd L., aka Olo. Investigators believe this involvement included the arson of a restaurant, arms trafficking, and incitement to attacks.
As previously reported by Ukrinform, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that the large fire that destroyed the Marywilska 44 shopping center in Warsaw in May 2024 was the result of arson organized by Russian intelligence services.
In November 2025, the Vilnius District Court sentenced Ukrainian citizen Danylo Bardadym to three years and four months in prison for setting fire to an IKEA store in Vilnius the previous year.
Photo: Państwowa Straż Pożarna
