The Security Service of Ukraine has apprehended another FSB agent who was conducting reconnaissance on the locations of Ukrainian defense forces in the Sumy region. The agent attempted to identify the positions of the largest concentration of personnel and heavy weaponry of the Armed Forces of Ukraine involved in defending the border areas of the region.
The individual, under the guise of talking on the phone, covertly documented the positions of Ukrainian forces while traversing the area. One of the tasks assigned to the agent was to create his own network of informants to enhance intelligence gathering in the region.
According to available information, the Russian forces hoped to use the agent's information to launch targeted missile and artillery strikes on military objects of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as to prepare routes for the infiltration of Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups to the borders of the Sumy region.
SSU operatives acted preemptively, exposing the perpetrator, documenting his criminal actions, and apprehending him during the execution of the reconnaissance task. This prevented the Russia's plans and safeguarded the temporary locations of Ukrainian defenders from potential airborne attacks.
The detained individual is a 54-year-old resident of Sumy, who was remotely recruited by the Russian special services in August 2023. He came to the attention of the FSB through pro-Kremlin comments on his own page on "Odnoklassniki."
After recruitment, the agent communicated with his Russian curator through an anonymous chat on a messenger app. Through this channel, he provided the aggressor with photo reports with textual descriptions of Ukrainian objects. For the tasks accomplished, the Russian forces sent monetary rewards to the agent through cryptocurrency payments.
During the searches, the detained individual's bank card and mobile phone with evidence of illegal activities were seized.
Currently, the Security Service of Ukraine has informed the detainee of the suspicion under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (state treason committed during a state of war). The perpetrator is in custody and faces possible life imprisonment.