Ukraine’s security services have detained a senior air force officer accused of spying for Moscow in what officials described as a foiled attempt by Russian intelligence to locate critical military aviation sites.
In an operation carried out in western Ukraine’s Lviv region, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it arrested a major from the Ukrainian Air Force who is alleged to have been working as a covert agent for Russia’s powerful FSB security service.
Investigators say the officer was recruited with the help of his ex-wife, a former soldier herself, who switched sides after Russia occupied Melitopol in Ukraine’s south. She is said to have acted as a go-between with a handler from the FSB’s elite Alfa special operations unit, named as Alexander Belodedov.
According to the SBU, the arrested officer’s primary task was to gather and transmit precise coordinates of Ukrainian military airfields, logistics hubs and maintenance facilities for combat aircraft — data Moscow’s forces hoped to use to launch missile and drone strikes.
Ukraine’s military counterintelligence team claims it identified and tracked the alleged mole’s communications before he could pass on any decisive information. He was detained and remains in custody pending trial.
Security officials stressed that immediate steps were taken to secure sensitive sites and prevent any possible Russian attack based on compromised data.
Prosecutors have charged the officer with high treason committed by a group acting in collusion during wartime — an offence that carries a potential life sentence and confiscation of all assets under Ukrainian law.
His ex-wife, who is believed to still be in Russian-occupied territory, has also been formally indicted in absentia for state treason.
The SBU said the operation was carried out under the supervision of Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General and with the direct support of the country’s top military commander.