SBU Detains Largest Network of Russian Agents Specialized in “Hunting” F-16s in Ukraine

The military counterintelligence of the Security Service neutralized a large-scale agent network of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (known as the game). The attackers spied on the Defense Forces in 5 regions of Ukraine at once.

As a result of the special operation, 12 Russian agents and their informants were exposed. Some of them – deserters who voluntarily left the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and when they were hiding from justice, were recruited by the Russian special services.

The members of the enemy cell acted separately from each other and closed in on the resident (head) of the agent group, who was in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

For the conspiracy, he used fake «cover documents», such as a fake «volunteer ID» and «anti-corruption activist».

He recruited accomplices from Zaporizhia, as well as Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Odessa regions to cooperate with the aggressor.

In these regions, the defendants scouted the firing positions of the Ukrainian air defense, tried to identify the locations of secret military airfields where, according to the Russian version, F-16 aircraft could be based.

A separate task of the enemy agents was to establish the addresses of companies involved in the production of electronic warfare equipment against Russian drones.

To obtain intelligence, the suspects «secretly» used their acquaintances, in particular Ukrainian military personnel who were in the frontline regions of Ukraine.

In case of receiving preliminary information, the agents went to the area to conduct additional reconnaissance near potential targets.

Initially, the members of the intelligence group «reported» resident, and then he passed the information on to his Russian curator.

The military counterintelligence of the Security Service exposed the entire enemy cell in advance, detained its organizer and 4 key accomplices.

During the searches, mobile phones, flash drives, military documents and fake IDs were seized from them.

SBU investigators informed the detainees of suspicion (in accordance with the crimes committed) under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• Part 2 of Art. 111 (treason committed under martial law);
• Part 2 of Art. 114-2 (unauthorized dissemination of information about the movement, movement or location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine).

Comprehensive measures are underway to bring other participants in the Russian agent network to justice. The perpetrators face from 8 years in prison to life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

The comprehensive measures were carried out by officers of the SBU military counterintelligence together with investigators of the Dnipropetrovsk Department of the SBU under the procedural guidance of the Dnipropetrovsk Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the Field of Defense of the Eastern Region.