Ukrainian Man Admits to Russian-Directed Mosque Vandalism Across East London

A 21-year-old Ukrainian national has admitted in court to carrying out a series of targeted vandalism attacks against Islamic institutions across east London. The criminal operation has been linked by investigators to a covert Russian state network that previously orchestrated arson attacks connected to British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Illia Bilyk entered guilty pleas at Thames Magistrates' Court to five separate counts of racially and religiously aggravated criminal damage. The court heard that Bilyk defaced multiple religious and educational properties with abusive slogans during a coordinated campaign of hostility earlier this year.

The vandalism took place over several days in late January 2025. On 23 January, Bilyk targeted three separate religious centres in east London, spraying offensive graffiti on the Stratford Islamic Association, the Al-Birr Mosque, and the Leyton Jamia Masjid.

Two days later, on 25 January, the defendant returned to the area to carry out further attacks. During this second wave, he defaced the Noor Ul Islam Primary School alongside premises belonging to the Islamic Shariah Council, completing the series of offences for which he now faces punishment.

Following his arrest, Bilyk revealed to police investigators that he had not acted on his own ideological initiative. Instead, he disclosed that he had been recruited through the encrypted messaging platform Telegram by a Russian-speaking handler who assigned him the specific geographic targets and subsequently transferred payment for the completed vandalism.

The case forms part of a wider pattern of hostile state activity uncovered through investigations conducted by the BBC and the advocacy organisation Hope not Hate. Their findings established that Russian state operatives have been orchestrating a calculated campaign of Islamophobic vandalism across London, deliberately seeking to provoke community tensions and civil unrest on British streets.

The network behind Bilyk’s offences has also been directly connected to high-profile political sabotage in the United Kingdom. In June of this year, two other Ukrainian men, Roman Lavrynovych and Stanislav Carpiuc, received prison sentences for their roles in a conspiracy to commit arson against a residential property and a vehicle linked to Sir Keir Starmer.

Court proceedings in that case revealed that Lavrynovych, who personally set the fires connected to Sir Keir, had similarly admitted to spraying anti-Muslim graffiti on an Islamic building located in south London. Lavrynovych had also been recruited via Telegram and offered financial remuneration by an anonymous Russian handler who used the initials "EL."

According to investigative findings, EL functioned as a key remote coordinator for Russian sabotage and provocation operations in Britain, using social media channels and Telegram messaging groups to commission real-world attacks from afar while keeping his identity concealed behind digital pseudonyms.

A central element of this covert campaign involved the establishment of Direct Action UK, an entirely fabricated far-right organisation created by Russian intelligence operatives. The fraudulent entity was designed to pose as a domestic extremist movement, taking credit for street-level vandalism and amplifying Islamophobic incidents to inflame societal divisions.

Photographic evidence of Bilyk’s graffiti attacks against the east London mosques was promptly circulated within the Direct Action UK Telegram channel shortly after the offences were committed, demonstrating the direct pipeline between the on-the-ground damage and the Russian-backed propaganda infrastructure.

Digital tracking showed that within hours of two of Bilyk's vandalism attacks, the operative known as EL posted messages in Telegram employment channels aimed at Ukrainian nationals, offering cash payments to anyone willing to supply photographs of specific buildings in the targeted areas.

The BBC investigation identified EL as Evgeny Lyukshin, a Russian diplomat who had previously undergone specialised training in information warfare under the direction of senior Russian intelligence officers. Lyukshin’s personal details and digital footprints matched those of the handler known as EL, though he did not respond to requests for comment regarding the findings.

Following his guilty pleas, Bilyk was remanded to await sentencing, which has been scheduled to take place at Stratford Magistrates' Court on 19 October.

Addressing the broader impact of the defacements, Chief Superintendent Rhona Hunt of the Metropolitan Police emphasised the severe distress inflicted upon targeted communities. She noted that these hostile acts had generated deep alarm among Muslim residents across east London and reiterated that the force remains actively focused on addressing ongoing concerns.

Chief Superintendent Hunt stated that anti-Muslim hate crime and Islamophobia have absolutely no place in London, reaffirming the Metropolitan Police's commitment to pursuing perpetrators of religiously motivated offences while providing ongoing reassurance and protection to vulnerable religious institutions.