The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that its counter-intelligence unit has neutralised an agent network of Russia’s military intelligence (better known as the GRU) in the Kharkiv Region. Four people have been detained on suspicion of directing shelling of the region and monitoring Ukrainian troops, law enforcement officers and judges.
At the Russians’ behest, the suspects also hid in a safe flat in Kharkiv a man convicted of justifying Russia’s armed aggression. Investigators found that members of the hostile cell included the head of a security department at a mobile communications company and his subordinate. Acting on instructions from the Russian special service, they collected personal data on Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel, law enforcement officers and members of Ukraine’s judiciary.
It has been documented that the Russians tasked these agents with gathering information about a prosecutor and judges involved in the criminal case against the propagandist whom the agents were hiding. To do this, they used their access to the mobile operator’s software, which makes it possible to obtain data on subscribers’ phone connections and geolocation.
The third member of the agent network was an employee of a local defence enterprise who, on the enemy’s instructions, rented out a flat to Ukrainian soldiers and, without their knowledge, questioned them to obtain information about troop deployment addresses and their movement routes. In addition, she directed enemy strikes at the defence enterprise where she worked.
Another agent was a Kharkiv resident who, together with two employees of the mobile operator’s security unit, drove around the city and surrounding areas in their company vehicle. During these trips, he filmed defence sites on a smartwatch, including backup command posts, fortifications and checkpoints of Ukrainian defenders.
SBU counter-intelligence officers acted pre-emptively and uncovered the agent group in its entirety in advance. After step-by-step documentation of each member’s crimes, all of them were detained.
According to the investigation, Russia recruited these people through an acquaintance from Kharkiv who, even before the start of the full-scale war, moved to the aggressor country and began working for Russia’s GRU as a “liaison”.
SBU investigators have served all detainees with suspicion notices under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason committed under martial law).
- Recently, a court sentenced two traitors to life imprisonment with confiscation of property; they were exposed in August 2024 in Kramatorsk.
The detainees are being held in custody. They now face life imprisonment with confiscation of property.