Key facts
- The SBU said the suspect was arrested in Mykolaiv while preparing to send coordinates of a facility where the brigade commander was expected.
- The SBU said the alleged agent was tasked with guiding a Russian missile strike on the unit's headquarters in real time.
- The SBU said the serviceman drew Russian intelligence's attention while seeking romantic relationships on Telegram dating channels.
- The SBU said the suspect also supplied information on Ukrainian facilities that stored and launched long-range attack drones.
- The SBU said the operation was run by its military counterintelligence with Ukraine's military intelligence agency, HUR.
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said on November 12 that it had detained an alleged Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agent in the city of Mykolaiv who was helping to prepare a missile strike aimed at killing a commander of a Ukrainian Air Assault Forces brigade. The suspect is a mobilized Ukrainian serviceman, the SBU said.
The SBU said the man was arrested while preparing to send his Russian handler the coordinates of a military facility where the brigade commander, a colonel, was expected to be present. According to the SBU, the alleged agent was tasked with guiding a Russian missile strike on the headquarters of the Ukrainian military unit in real time.
The investigation found that the serviceman drew the attention of Russian intelligence while seeking romantic relationships on Telegram dating channels, the SBU said. After being recruited, he communicated with an FSB officer via an anonymous chat. Using his position as a driver, the suspect gathered information about the brigade command's whereabouts, according to the SBU.
The SBU said he also allegedly supplied information on Ukrainian military facilities that stored and launched long-range attack drones targeting Russian forces' rear positions. The SBU said it detected the plot in advance, secured the locations of Ukrainian airborne troops and arrested the suspect at his military unit. Investigators found a phone containing messages to the FSB handler detailing preparations for the planned assassination, the SBU said.
The operation was conducted by the SBU's military counterintelligence in collaboration with Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR). The suspect was charged with high treason under martial law and is in custody without the right to bail, the SBU said. He faces life imprisonment and confiscation of property if convicted.