The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained a suspect in the Kyiv region in connection with cooperation with Russian military intelligence. According to investigators, the man was helping the Russians prepare new missile attacks on thermal power plants in the capital region.
The SBU reported this on February 18.
According to SBU cyber specialists, the alleged agent initially received an assignment from Russian special services to covertly bypass the perimeter of one of the thermal power plants in order to monitor its technical condition after the previous shelling.
“During the sortie, he was supposed to “report” to the occupiers in real time about everything he saw on the territory of the energy facility, with photographic records of technological structures and equipment,” the department's press service said.
The SBU says they detained the man “red-handed” while he was conducting additional reconnaissance near a potential “target.”
According to investigators, the order of the Russian GRU was carried out by a 26-year-old resident of the Fastiv district, who had previously served a sentence for the murder of an underage girl.
He came into the sights of Russian intelligence officers in a Telegram channel when he was looking for “easy money.”
“In exchange for the promise of quick money, he agreed to adjust the air attacks of the racists on the energy infrastructure of the Kyiv region in order to cut off electricity and leave most of the region without heat supply,” the report said.
During a search, a photo of a thermal power plant and an anonymous chat with a Russian curator, with whom he communicated in the “disappearing” message mode, were found on his smartphone.
The man was charged under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason committed under martial law). The sanction of the article provides for life imprisonment with confiscation of property. The suspect is currently in a pre-trial detention center.
Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that two alleged Russian agents had been detained in the Kyiv region. According to the investigation, they were collecting coordinates for another shelling of the capital region of Ukraine at the request of the Russian FSB.