Arrest warrants issued for Ukrainians suspected of rail sabotage in Poland
Polish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for two Ukrainian nationals suspected of carrying out recent sabotage attacks on a key railway line connecting Warsaw with the Ukrainian border, the spokesperson for the National Prosecutor's Office has said.
Przemyslaw Nowak wrote on X on Friday that the warrant followed a Warsaw court's decision on Thursday, which approved the prosecutor's request for the pre-trial detention of Yevhenii Ivanov, aged 41, and Oleksandr Kononov, aged 39.
He added that based on the court's ruling, the prosecutor issued arrest warrants and ordered the Warsaw Metropolitan Police to search for the suspects, who allegedly had fled to Belarus after the incident.
The procedure to issue an arrest warrant may ultimately lead to a European Arrest Warrant, valid throughout the European Union, and Interpol's Red Notice, which calls upon law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and arrest a suspect.
Later on Friday, the Warsaw Metropolitan Police published the warrants on its website, together with photographs of both Ivanov, born in Estonia, and Kononov, born in Ukraine, asking the public to share any information about their whereabouts.
The men are suspected of damaging railway tracks with an explosive near the village of Mika in central Poland, as well as of causing another incident involving the same rail line near the city of Pulawy in the east of the country, allegedly acting under instructions from Moscow.
On November 22, another suspect in the case, the Ukrainian national Volodymyr B., heard charges related to the rail sabotage. Prosecutors accuse him of assisting the two perpetrators by helping them conduct reconnaissance and prepare for the attacks. He was ordered by a court to be held in pre-trial detention for three months. (PAP)
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