German court sentences Ukrainian man to 15 months in Russian parcel tracking plot

Verdict and sentencing in Stuttgart

The Higher Regional Court in Stuttgart convicted a 30-year-old Ukrainian national, identified in court proceedings as Yevhen B., to 15 months in prison on 18 August 2026 for acting as an agent for sabotage. The court acquitted two other Ukrainian defendants, aged 22 and 25, due to insufficient evidence that they knowingly participated in a sabotage scheme. Because the 30-year-old had already spent 15 months in pre-trial detention and extradition custody, he was released immediately without serving further prison time. Federal prosecutors had sought prison terms ranging from two years and nine months to four years and three months, while defense attorneys sought full acquittals for all three men. Both the prosecution and the defense retain the right to appeal the ruling.

At the behest of an acquaintance from Russian-occupied Mariupol, he organised the shipment of GPS trackers that transmitted location data during transit from Germany to Ukraine.

The parcel tracking operation

Investigators established that the operation began in March 2025, when an acquaintance based in Russian-occupied Mariupol instructed the 30-year-old resident of the Swiss canton of Thurgau to track freight shipments. The man contacted a 22-year-old acquaintance in Konstanz, who purchased automotive spare parts and packaged them together with active GPS tracking devices. After discovering that the selected Ukrainian courier service lacked a drop-off branch in Konstanz, the younger man contacted a 25-year-old associate in Cologne. The Cologne associate dispatched the two parcels toward Ukraine in late March 2025, enabling handlers linked to Russian intelligence to record transit routes and logistics routines across Europe. German and Swiss police arrested the three suspects in May 2025 in Konstanz, Cologne, and Thurgau, followed by the extradition of the primary suspect from Switzerland in December 2025 after the Swiss Federal Court rejected his appeal.

Prosecution claims and evidentiary limits

Federal prosecutors argued that the test shipments were designed as an initial reconnaissance step before sending incendiary packages intended to ignite during transit across German territory or non-occupied parts of Ukraine. According to prosecutors, the intended fires aimed to inflict material damage and degrade public trust in transportation security. However, the court found insufficient evidence that the defendants had agreed to carry out arson attacks or knew of an explosive parcel plot. Searches of residential properties, forensic reviews of electronic messages, and witness testimonies failed to substantiate conspiracy charges for the two younger defendants, who were cleared of knowing participation.

It was not possible to establish that the defendants had conspired to commit a serious arson offence.

Wider context of European security incidents

German and European security authorities have monitored multiple transport-related security incidents since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Security officials previously linked Moscow to incendiary parcels shipped from Lithuania in 2024 that ignited in freight hubs across Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom, including a DHL cargo shipment that caught fire at Leipzig Airport. In early August 2026, German authorities discovered a drone equipped with explosives and a detonator near a Ukrainian cargo aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt categorized the Leipzig incident as a hybrid attack by a foreign power without directly naming Russia, while the Russian government has rejected allegations of coordinating sabotage plots.