SBU counter-intelligence eliminated an agent network of the Russian Main Directorate of the General Staff (GRU), which operated in five regions of Ukraine and collected information about the Defense Forces.
The operation resulted in the exposure of 12 Russian agents and their informants. Among them were deserters who had left the Armed Forces and were recruited by Russian special services while hiding from justice.
The head of the network was a resident who operated in Dnipropetrovs’k region. He used forged documents, including fake IDs of a “volunteer” and an “anti-corruption activist” to cover himself. He involved accomplices from Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions.
The agents collected data on the firing positions of Ukrainian air defense, the location of secret military airfields where, according to Russian special services, F-16 aircraft could be based. They also tried to identify enterprises that produce electronic warfare equipment.
The SBU exposed the activities of the agent group in advance and detained its organizer and four key accomplices. During the searches, the SBU seized mobile phones, flash drives, military documents and forged IDs.
The work on bringing other members of the network to justice is ongoing. The detainees face 8 years to life imprisonment with confiscation of property.