Employees of the Territorial Department of the Melitopol State Bureau of Investigations found a Russian pilot in Zaporizhia who could be engaged in espionage.

He was exposed during a special operation to identify hostile elements among the citizens of the Russian Federation who entered the territory of Ukraine on the eve of the Russian invasion. The operation was carried out jointly with the Migration Police Department of the GUNP in the Zaporizhia region.

According to operative information, the Russian military pilot has regularly visited close relatives in Zaporizhia in recent years.

On February 8, 2022, he entered Ukraine and remains so to this day. After the beginning of the Russian aggression, the pilot began to hide, and his mother told everyone that she had not seen her son for more than a year.

He identified himself as a retiree in civil aviation, although DBR staff had obtained conclusive evidence that he belonged to the Russian military.

Also, the collected data may indicate that the Russian came to Ukraine as a so-called "canned" to engage in sabotage and reconnaissance activities and adjust the fire of the Russian military on objects of strategic importance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and territorial defense, merging data on their movement, location block of posts, deployments of battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and territorial defense.

After completing all legal procedures, it will be handed over to the SBU.

A set of operational and investigative measures to identify collaborators and possible participants in enemy DRGs continues.