The arsonist will spend over five years behind bars.

At the end of December last year, in the Kyiv district of Odessa, a perpetrator set fire to two postal offices in one night. Fortunately, no one was injured as a result of his actions.

After receiving reports of the fires, investigators from the criminal investigation department and criminal analysis of the Odessa region, together with officers from Police Department No. 4, quickly identified the arsonist. He turned out to be a 22-year-old local man who was on probation for theft. Police apprehended him at his residence in the Kyiv district.

“During the preliminary investigation, we found that the young man received an offer through a messenger from an unknown person to set fire to the postal buildings for money. Following the instructions, he bought the necessary tools during the day and set fire to two sites at night, breaking the windows with a stone and dousing them with flammable liquid. He filmed his actions and sent the video to the client as a report,” said Oleg Zoshchuk, head of the investigative unit of the police.

One fire extinguished itself without spreading beyond the window, while the second was put out by security staff responding to the alarm. The fire damaged the facade and walls inside the building.

According to investigative findings, the damages inflicted on the victims amounted to over 43 thousand hryvnias.

Police gathered evidence and charged the suspect under part 2 of Article 194 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – for the completed attempt of intentional damage to someone else's property and intentional damage to property by arson, committed by prior conspiracy of a group of individuals. After the preliminary investigation, which was conducted under the procedural guidance of the Kyiv District Prosecutor's Office of Odessa, the indictment was sent to court.

After reviewing the criminal case materials and evidence provided by law enforcement, taking into account the defendant's genuine remorse, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to five years and two months of imprisonment, partially combining the unserved part of the previous sentence.

Materials regarding the crime's customer have been separated into a separate criminal proceeding.