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That is according to the court's ruling, Ukrinform reports.

In indictments filed by the Federal Prosecutor General on December 16, 2025, and January 16, 2026, all three defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated arson in connection with espionage aimed at facilitating sabotage. The 22-year-old and 25-year-old defendants were additionally charged with espionage in connection with an offense aimed at facilitating sabotage.

The main trial confirmed the charges only in part.

The court found that all three defendants had participated, at the direction of Russian intelligence services, in transporting two packages from Germany to Ukraine via a Ukrainian courier service in March 2025. Each package contained GPS trackers and car parts. The Russian handler allegedly sought to use the operation to assess the possibility of carrying out potential acts of sabotage aimed at disrupting such shipments and related infrastructure in Germany.

However, the court found no evidence that the operation was based on a plan to subsequently send packages containing incendiary devices from Germany to Ukraine. Nor was there evidence that the other two defendants were involved in or aware of such a plan, or that they were prepared to carry out such acts of sabotage.

Neither the testimony of numerous witnesses nor the results of searches of the defendants' apartments and assessments of the seized evidence substantiated the allegations of conspiracy to commit a crime or preparations for acts of sabotage. Information provided by counterintelligence also failed to establish that the defendants had acted with criminal intent. No intent to engage in espionage on their part could be established either. The two Ukrainians were therefore acquitted, and their arrest warrants were lifted.

At the same time, the court was convinced that the 30-year-old defendant, who had been extradited from Switzerland, had knowingly participated in identifying potential sabotage targets on behalf of a Russian state actor. The court based this finding on his broader knowledge of the case and his personal beliefs.

Acting on behalf of an acquaintance from Russian-occupied Mariupol, he arranged for GPS trackers to be delivered. The devices transmitted location data while being transported from Germany to Ukraine. He recruited the other two defendants and handed the trackers to the 22-year-old defendant in Constanța, who, following instructions, transported them to Cologne. From there, the 25-year-old defendant sent them to Ukraine using a Ukrainian company.

The ruling is not yet legally binding. The convicted man and the Federal Prosecutor General may appeal to the Federal Court of Justice.

As reported earlier, the men were detained last May in Constanța, Cologne and Switzerland's canton of Thurgau.