Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has reported the neutralization of a large-scale Russian FSB spy network operating in six regions of Ukraine. The counterintelligence operation, announced on 5 August, resulted in the simultaneous arrest of nine suspected Russian agents in the cities of Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, and the oblasts of Donetsk, Odesa, and Kirovohrad.
According to the SBU, the suspects were preparing for Russian missile, bomb, and drone strikes on Ukrainian territory. The network operated discreetly, with individual agents working separately but all reporting to a single FSB officer, whose identity has reportedly been established by the Security Service.
Russia’s Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) is the main security agency of Russia and the successor agency to the USSR’s KGB.
SBU says the suspected agents were tasked with gathering coordinates for strikes against Ukrainian defense forces and critical infrastructure. Among those detained were two female officials: one from the Dnipro City Council and another heading a department in the Yuzhne City Council in Odesa Oblast. These officials allegedly identified air defense locations and key electrical substations to aid Russian attacks in both regions.
Other suspects were involved in reconnaissance of fortified areas and artillery positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar. One detainee allegedly gathered information on troop and equipment concentrations of defenders in Kurakhove, Donetsk Oblast.
The Security Service says the network also included two managers and a university student who tracked the movement of Ukrainian military trains towards the eastern front. A former member of a disbanded police force was allegedly caught reporting to the occupiers about the consequences of a Russian attack on one of Ukraine’s hydroelectric power plants.
The SBU investigation revealed that the suspects came to the FSB’s attention as active commentators in pro-Kremlin Telegram channel chats. After remote recruitment, they communicated with their Russian handler through anonymous chat bots in a popular messenger app.
Mobile phones with evidence of intelligence and subversive activities for Russia were seized during searches. The suspects have been charged under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for treason committed under martial law. They are in custody and face potential life imprisonment and property confiscation.
Related:
- Six Odesa residents arrested for burning military cars on Russian orders
- Suspected Russian saboteur faces life imprisonment for railway plot in Kyiv
- Ukrainian woman faces life in prison for coordinating Russian strikes on Kharkiv
- SBU arrests Russian agent caught preparing terrorist attacks in Zaporizhzhia
- SBU says it prevented May 9 Kyiv bomb attacks by Russian saboteurs
- Ukraine’s security service detains Ukrainian man for guiding Russian missiles at Odesa
