In Kyiv, the SBU counterintelligence service detained two citizens of the People’s Republic of China who were trying to take secret documentation on the Ukrainian anti-ship missile complex RK-360MC Neptune to the PRC.
This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
According to the investigation, one of the detainees is a 24-year-old former student of a Kyiv technical university who was expelled in 2023 for poor academic performance.
The other suspect is his father, who lived permanently in China but periodically visited Ukraine to personally coordinate his son’s intelligence work.
“The former Chinese student was supposed to obtain technical documentation on the production of Ukrainian Neptunes. To this end, he tried to recruit a Ukrainian citizen involved in the development of the latest weapons for the Armed Forces,” the SBU said.
The spy was detained while receiving secret documents. Later, his father, who was supposed to deliver the collected information to China, was also detained.
During searches, law enforcement officers seized mobile phones containing evidence of their correspondence and coordination of activities. Both were notified of suspicion of espionage (Part 1 of Article 114 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). They face up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.