Attacks prepared for Russians
Ukrainian secret service uncovers agent network
06.08.2024, 00:04
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Several men were supposed to spy on targets for Russia in Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian secret service SBU, Moscow recruited them via Telegram. Russia was interested in the critical infrastructure and positions of the armed forces. The men face a life sentence.
The Ukrainian secret service has uncovered and taken out a Russian agent network. The Russian secret service recruited potential employees in six regions of Ukraine via a chat page on Telegram, the SBU secret service in Kiev announced. They were supposed to pass on information about critical infrastructure and military targets. The SBU had been observing the spies for a while and has now struck. A total of nine men have been arrested.
Among those arrested were two municipal officials from Dnipro and Yuzhne in the Odessa region. They were recruited because they were active as “commentators” in pro-Kremlin chat rooms. Their commanding officer from the Russian secret service FSB was also exposed, it said.
According to the SBU statement, the agents are said to have prepared Russian missile, bomb and drone attacks in six regions of Ukraine. As part of a multi-stage special operation, nine Russian agents were arrested simultaneously in Dnipro, Zaporizhia and Sumy, as well as in the Donetsk, Odessa and Kirovohrad regions, it said.
The agents are said to have operated separately but were “linked” to an FSB officer identified by the SBU. The Russian intelligence officer instructed them to collect coordinates for fire attacks on defense forces and critical infrastructure.
Spying on the heavy artillery
The two arrested officials were in the process of determining the locations of air defense systems and important electrical substations in order to facilitate Russian shelling in both regions.
Two other agents are said to have reconnoitred the locations of fortifications and firing positions of the heavy artillery of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Pokrovsk and Khasovyi Yar. An accomplice collected information on the concentration of personnel and military equipment of Ukrainian defenders of Kurakhove in the Donetsk region.
The Russian agents are said to include two managers and a university student who recorded the movements of Ukrainian army squadrons towards the Eastern Front, the SBU said. Another agent is a former officer of the disbanded police who reported to the Russians on the consequences of the Russian attack on one of the Ukrainian hydroelectric power plants. The suspects now face life imprisonment and confiscation of their assets.