Law enforcement officers have detained the largest network of Russian agents that was "hunting" for F-16 fighters. The group includes 12 men, some of whom are deserters who voluntarily left the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The defendants in the case spied on the Defense Forces of Ukraine in five regions at once: Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Odesa regions.
The suspects were hunting for Ukrainian air defense firing positions and trying to identify the locations of secret military airfields where, according to the Russians, 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 do this, the suspects used their acquaintances, including Ukrainian military personnel stationed in frontline regions of Ukraine. They then conducted reconnaissance near potential targets.
All the suspects acted separately from each other. They were coordinated by the head of the intelligence group, which was in the Dnipropetrovsk region. For the conspiracy, he used fake “cover documents”, such as a fake “volunteer ID card” and “anti-corruption activist”.
It was this manager who passed all the information to his Russian curator.
Law enforcement officers detained the organizer and 4 key accomplices. They were charged with treason and dissemination of information about the movement, movement, or location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
During the searches, mobile phones, flash drives, military documents, and fake IDs were seized from them.
They face sentences ranging from 8 years in prison to life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.