The Security Service of Ukraine has detained in Odessa another agent of Russian military intelligence (better known as the GRU) who was directing Russian attacks on the city and supporting Russian forces on social media.
According to the SSU’s Main Directorate of Internal Security, among the potential targets whose coordinates the suspect was collecting were units of the Ukrainian security service carrying out combat missions in the southern direction.
The investigation established that the guidance of air strikes was carried out by a 52-year-old local unemployed woman recruited by the Russian forces.
She came to the attention of the Russian forces through an acquaintance living in Russia who cooperates with Russian military intelligence.
To track coordinates for air attacks, the agent walked around the area and marked on Google Maps the locations of facilities that, in her opinion, could be used by Ukrainian defenders.
As a cover, she pretended to be walking dogs that she borrowed from acquaintances. She also regularly changed her clothing and behavior.
She transmitted the collected intelligence in the form of photos, videos, and electronic geolocations to her handler via a messenger app.
SSU officers detained the agent red-handed while she was conducting additional reconnaissance near a restricted facility.
During searches, officers seized a smartphone containing a prepared agent “report” for Russia’s GRU.
The device also contained her posts on Telegram in which she justified the full-scale invasion by Russian forces.
The suspect is being held in custody without the right to bail. She faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
