More than 5,000 reports of attempted recruitment by Russian intelligence services have been submitted to Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) via its “Bust an FSB Agent” chatbot, Ukrainian officials revealed at the Kyiv StratCom Forum 2025, according to UkrInform.
“Since May of last year, we’ve faced a serious new threat — the recruitment of our young people by enemy intelligence. In the past year and a half alone, more than 600 individuals have been detained for involvement in them,” she said.
According to Semikina, the motivations behind the sabotage are primarily financial. However, she warned of deadly consequences: “If a minor or adult agrees to carry out an enemy plan — that’s state treason. Often, they are treated as expendables. Russian intelligence has detonated their own agents mid-operation.”
One such case occurred on 11 March, when a Russian-controlled improvised explosive device killed a 15-year-old and severely injured a 17-year-old near the Ivano-Frankivsk railway station. Both had been recruited via Telegram and instructed to build and transport a bomb disguised as thermoses. The device was remotely triggered by Russian handlers once the teens reached the target zone.
Semikina reiterated that anyone who agrees to collaborate with a foreign intelligence agency risks up to 15 years in prison or a life sentence behind bars.
Separately, SBU cyber defense official Oleksandr Melnychenko highlighted the scale of Russia’s disinformation war. He said the Kremlin spends an estimated $4.6 billion annually on information operations, with Ukraine as its top target.
“Their goal is clear: disrupt mobilization. You can see it across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Telegram — hundreds of thousands of videos and posts aimed at discrediting Ukraine’s mobilization efforts,” he claimed.
Earlier, SBU Chief Vasyl Maliuk personally led the arrest of a top-level traitor within the agency’s Anti-Terrorist Center, culminating a sophisticated operation that had turned the Russian spy into an unwitting tool against Moscow’s intelligence services.
The operation exposed not just the high-ranking turncoat but an entire Russian intelligence network. The suspect, who held a leadership position in the SBU’s Anti-Terrorist Center, had been recruited by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in Vienna in 2018.
