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Polish Telegram chats affiliated with the Bomba Poland Media network are posting “job ads” on a daily basis. In reality, the objective of these ads is to recruit saboteurs, who are tasked with perpetrating acts of arson and infrastructure attacks, mostly in Ukraine, independent outlet Vot Tak found.
Recruitment is disguised as ordinary job ads. Such content often mentions illegal earnings and criminal “services,” but listings with sabotage tasks were found only in chats administered by Bomba Poland Media. Vacancies can be posted there through a paid bot, and new “job ads” frequently appear seeking candidates who are ready to set fire to railroad relay cabinets, military enlistment offices, courthouses, and police stations, among other targets.
Journalists managed to contact at least four groups of recruiters. One of them offered “work” in Poland: carrying out the arson of cars intended for the Ukrainian Armed Forces or premium‑class vehicles with Polish license plates. The recruiter promised between $750 and $1,000 for each arson on the condition that the perpetrator provide video evidence recorded in line with a pre‑approved scenario.
Recruiters provide detailed instructions on how to prepare a flammable mixture, which vehicles to target, how to film the arson, what details to show on camera, and how to conduct “reconnaissance” of the target. Some offer “coordination” schemes in which one person receives a percentage for bringing in perpetrators.
Many of the recruiters look for saboteurs exclusively in Ukraine, offering up to several thousand dollars for setting fire to prosecutors’ offices, military enlistment centers, police buildings, and other facilities. Some operate through dozens of clone accounts and redirect candidates to a single “gateway profile” featuring Ukrainian symbols but registered to Russian or Yemeni phone numbers.
A check of phone numbers linked to the accounts posting the ads showed that many of them belong to Russian operators (Megafon Moscow and St. Petersburg). The referenced channels broadcast Russian propaganda, anti‑mobilization messages focused on Ukrainian audiences, and calls to torch Ukrainian facilities. However, the authors of job ads motivate these appeals by appealing to stories of “busification” — a Ukrainian term that refers to the forced conscription of military-aged men in the street by putting them on buses to the military enlistment office.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of people have been detained on suspicion of carrying out tasks on behalf of Russian intelligence, including attacks on railways, military facilities, and vehicles. According to Poland's Internal Security Agency, 71 cases of espionage, sabotage, and subversion have been opened in the country since 2022. Polish security services emphasize that recruiters most often target young people from Ukraine and Belarus, often those who are already involved in criminal activity. The saboteurs’ main motivation is money, not ideology. In both Ukraine and Poland, sabotage carries penalties of up to life imprisonment.