Ukraine's Security Service exposes resident of western Ukraine on high treason

Law enforcement officers have detained a resident of Bukovyna, a historic region in western Ukraine, who had committed high treason.

Source: Security Service of Ukraine (SSU); Chernivtsi Oblast Prosecutor’s Office

Details: The suspect collected intelligence on the location of critical infrastructure and Ukraine’s defence forces in the country's east and west, and passed it on to Russian occupation forces.

Ukraine’s Security Service said that he was particularly interested in where units of Ukraine’s Security Service and Border Guards were based, and the exact coordinates of key bridges and electricity substations in Kharkiv Oblast and the Bukovyna region.

Security Service officers detained the Russian spy in the western city of Chernivtsi, as he was trying to covertly photograph a military facility.

The investigators say that the suspect, who collaborated with the aggressor state, was a resident of Chernivtsi. He moved to Kharkiv in 2021 to work as an internet setup technician.

In the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he started sharing pro-Kremlin narratives on his profile in Odnoklassniki, a Russian social media website banned in Ukraine. The SSU said Russian military intelligence officers became aware of his activity in February 2023.

A Russian intelligence officer approached him online, and offered the man to collaborate with Russia.

Still in Kharkiv, he carried out the tasks assigned by the Russian handler, gathering information about where Ukrainian checkpoints and defence fortifications were located in the city; he also passed on the geolocation of Kharkiv energy facilities to the Russian occupiers.

In May, the suspect was given a new task: to go back to his native Chernivtsi under the pretext of visiting family, but in fact to spy on the SSU office in Chernivtsi Oblast, the local border guards detachment, and the Chernivtsi military enlistment office.

He was also tasked with supplying the coordinates of local transport bridges, and information about their security, as well as the locations of major logistical hubs and humanitarian aid storage facilities.

The man used a messenger app on his phone to share the information with his Russian handler, who promised to transfer payments for each successfully completed task to his bank card. 

During the search at the suspect’s place of residence, the SSU found a mobile phone and a laptop that he used to carry out the subversive operations against the Ukrainian state.

Based on the evidence gathered, SSU investigators served the Russian agent a notice of suspicion of high treason committed under martial law.

He is currently in custody.

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