Slovak police thwart arson plot targeting Ukrainian drone factory

Slovak police detained three foreign nationals on August 25 over an alleged plot to set fire to a Ukrainian-owned Skyeton factory producing advanced surveillance drones, Dennik N reported. The incident marks one of the first known attempts to target a military equipment manufacturer in Slovakia.

Two suspects were detained in Slovakia, while a third was arrested in Germany under a European arrest warrant. Slovak police did not disclose the nationalities of the detained individuals. The alleged plotters' actions could have sparked a "large-scale fire" at the facility, where about 70 people were present at the time and property was valued at "tens of millions of euros," police said.

Police seized an incendiary mixture of gasoline and polystyrene, along with tools, cell phones, an action camera, and a hand-drawn map of the facility they allegedly planned to set on fire. Skyeton announced plans to open a production facility in Haniska, near Presov, in spring 2024, expecting to employ up to 200 people by the end of 2025.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, sabotage and arson attempts targeting industrial and logistics infrastructure have increased across the EU, particularly at facilities involved in weapons production. Russia has regularly recruited both foreign nationals and its own citizens to carry out such operations in NATO and EU countries.

Similar incidents have been reported in other EU countries. In March, perpetrators set fire to a facility belonging to Ukrainian company Archer-LPP in the Czech city of Pardubice. Earlier in August, two suspects were detained in connection with an arson attack on a building belonging to Estonian defense company Milrem Robotics.