The military counterintelligence department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), together with the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and with the assistance of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has uncovered another Russian agent within the Ukrainian military.
The suspect is a contract serviceman recruited by Russia's FSB who allegedly helped direct Russian strikes against Ukrainian military facilities on the southern front.
Investigators established that the suspect changed 77 telephone numbers to conceal his communications with the Russian intelligence service.
The investigation documented how he replaced SIM cards every two days across 18 smartphones, which he used to help coordinate Russian attacks in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia sectors.
SSU officers took preventive measures to protect Ukrainian Defence Forces positions in southern Ukraine and detained the agent after he left his military unit without authorisation, intending to go into hiding first in Odessa and later in Mykolaiv.
According to the investigation, the serviceman came to the FSB's attention while searching for opportunities to earn "easy money" through specialised Telegram channels.
After being recruited, the agent recorded voice messages for his Russian handler, providing detailed descriptions of the military facilities where he was serving.
Russian intelligence was particularly interested in the locations of Ukrainian military engineering crossings and fortifications situated 5–10 kilometres from the front line.
In addition, the suspect marked the coordinates of neighbouring Ukrainian military formations on Google Maps and sent them to Russian intelligence.
The suspect is being held in custody without the possibility of bail. He faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
