Terror group planned India hits, backed Myanmar rebels: Probe | India News
Three Ukrainian war veterans – Petro Hurba, Taras Sliviak and Ivan Sukmanovsky – were arrested by Bureau of Immigration officials at Lucknow airport on March 13 and handed over to the NIA. They have been charged under UAPA.The alleged network was headed by a US citizen, Matthew Aaron Van Dyke, arrested at the Kolkata airport, while three other Ukrainians – Stephankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim and Viktor Kaminsky – were recently detained in Delhi, investigators said on Tuesday.Van Dyke, who describes himself online as the founder of a security consulting firm and a filmmaker, has claimed involvement in the conflicts in Libya and Ukraine and covert operations in Venezuela.All seven accused are in NIA custody as investigators expand their probe into alleged cross-border links, supply chains and possible threats to Indian security.On Monday, New Delhi’s Patiala House Court Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Sharma sent the group to 11-day police custody, citing the charges as having a direct impact on “India’s national security and interests”. The court said that interrogation is necessary at this stage of investigation.According to investigation details, the Lucknow detainees flew to India from the UAE on tourist visas in December 2025, traveled to Mizoram without mandatory restricted zone permits and allegedly entered Myanmar, where they established contacts with armed groups hostile to India.Investigators said the suspects traveled by bus from Guwahati to Lucknow and checked into a hotel near the airport hours before their planned departure. The hotelier said the three claimed to be tourists, one identified himself as a chef, but evaded questions about earlier movements.“Timely submission of Form C by the hotel played an important role in tracking them,” said a source.Investigators alleged that the group procured and transferred drone shipments from Europe to India and later to Myanmar, where they trained ethnic insurgents involved in the conflict with the junta.Mizoram CM Lalduhoma had earlier told the state assembly that intelligence inputs suggested the presence of Ukrainian war veterans in China providing training to rebel groups.with inputs from Delhi
