Der Spiegel: The weapons cache found outside Berlin was left there by a 24-year-old Ukrainian man arrested in Romania
Der Spiegel has identified a 24-year-old Ukrainian, named as Vadym S., as the man who set up a weapons cache found in a forest outside Berlin in August, citing intelligence services who say he was part of a group allegedly acting on Russian intelligence orders. Polish authorities reportedly tracked him traveling by bus to Berlin on October 1, 2025, to plant two packages containing pistols and ammunition.
He was later detained in Bucharest on October 16 after leaving packages of incendiary devices at a Ukrainian delivery company branch; a second Ukrainian, reportedly 21-year-old Bohdan Filipchuk, was arrested alongside him. A Romanian outlet has claimed the men, both born in Kherson region, moved to Poland earlier this year and that one received orders from a relative.
German officials had earlier speculated the cache might have been meant for Russian agents' 'kinetic operations,' though they stressed the investigation remains open. The Russian Embassy in Germany dismissed the intelligence-service claims as 'speculation.'
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