A Ukrainian court sentenced a 32-year-old Kyiv IT worker to life in prison with property confiscation for state treason committed under martial law. Donetsk Oblast prosecutors proved the man voluntarily helped Russia adjust strikes on energy infrastructure, air defense systems, and military positions, Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General (PGO) and Security Service (SBU) reported on 16 February.
Mapped drone corridors, betrayed stepfather's workplace
On his own initiative, the convict transmitted to the enemy the location of a defense enterprise where his stepfather worked, as well as coordinates of Defense Forces units, thermal power plants, industrial facilities, and air defense systems, PGO says. He reportedly sent photographs, marked Russian UAV flight routes, and reported back on strike results. He collected targeting data independently or through acquaintances.
Recruited via Telegram, drove around Kyiv scouting targets
According to the SBU, which detained the man in July 2025, the IT worker contacted Russian special services through Telegram channels and offered his help in the war against Ukraine for money. After recruitment, he drove around the capital region marking geolocations of functioning energy facilities on electronic maps and photographed the external façades of potential targets with terrain references.
During reconnaissance trips, he also tracked basing points of air defense units and included this information in agent reports for his FSB handler, the agency said. Searches turned up a smartphone on which he had marked aerial "corridors" for Russian strikes on Kyiv's energy facilities designed to bypass Ukrainian air defense.
They said the van was going to the front to save wounded soldiers — it was a remote-controlled bomb
After Russian strikes, the convict traveled to impact sites to assess the results and transmitted the data to prepare new attacks. Beyond his espionage activities, he displayed clothing bearing Russian symbols and expressed a desire to wear such items openly if Russian forces occupied Kyiv.
"He deliberately guided Russian strikes on energy infrastructure and air defense systems, helping the enemy leave Ukrainians without electricity, heat, and protection. This is direct complicity in terror against the civilian population. There can be no justification and no leniency for such actions — only life imprisonment," said Pavlo Uhrovetskyi, head of Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office.
He added that over the past year alone, prosecutors secured convictions of 46 strike spotters.
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