The Security Service of Ukraine has exposed an FSB espionage network operating in the capital and the Kharkiv region
The perpetrators were spying on the locations of the Defense Forces and adjusting enemy airstrikes.
According to the SBU, the resident (leader) of the hostile cell was an active engineer at the municipal enterprise “Kyiv Metro”.
He was recruited in 2015 in Moscow during a personal meeting with a staff officer of the Russian security service. His identity has already been established by cybersecurity specialists of the Security Service, as stated in the report.
The recruited agent was put into “waiting mode” and “reactivated” after the start of the full-scale war through messages in a messenger app. The man received instructions to create an espionage network. The objective of this group was to gather information about the bases and movement routes of Ukrainian troops and their cargo, as well as to direct missile and drone attacks from the Russian Federation against them.
To work for the enemy, the resident involved his acquaintances: a Kharkiv resident who left his military unit after mobilization and had previously worked for 10 years at Ukrzaliznytsia, and a driver of international freight transport. The deserter's task was to monitor the movement of military convoys of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, while the driver's task was to leak coordinates of checkpoints and Defense Forces units under the guise of business trips.
Furthermore, it has been established that the resident's biological brother and mother were also involved in the activities of the espionage group.
According to the investigation, the resident personally directed missile strikes on Kyiv, as confirmed by his intercepted conversations.
Employees of the SBU documented the crimes of the Russian agency and arrested its resident in Kyiv. At the same time, an agent-deserter was apprehended in Kharkiv.
During searches of the suspects, mobile phones containing evidence of their collaboration with the RF were seized. Firearms were also found and sent for examination.
Investigators of the Security Service have informed the two detainees and two relatives of the leader of the hostile cell of suspicion.