Ukrainian men deny plotting fires at properties related to British prime minister

Two Ukrainian men pleaded not guilty Friday to plotting fires earlier this year at properties linked to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Roman Lavrynovych, 21, and Petro Pochynok, 35, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life between 1 April and 13 May.

They are accused along with another man, Ukraine-born Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, of setting fire to Starmer’s personal home, along with a property where he once lived and a car he had sold.

Carpiuc, 27, did not enter a plea during the hearing at London's Central Criminal Court.

Prosecutors said the case was not being treated as terrorism.

"Plainly they are coordinated and must have some motive or purpose behind them," Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said.

A tentative trial date was set for April 27.

No injuries were reported from the fires in north London, which occurred on three nights between 8-12 May.

Starmer and his family had moved out of his home after he was elected in July last year and they live at the prime minister’s official Downing Street residence.

A Toyota RAV4 that Starmer once owned was set ablaze on 8 May, just down the street from the house where he lived before he became prime minister.

The door of an apartment building where he once lived was set on fire on 11 May and on 12 May the doorway of his home was charred after being set ablaze.

Starmer called the fires "an attack on all of us, on democracy and the values that we stand for."