The Military Counterintelligence of the Security Service of Ukraine, with the assistance of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Commander of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, thwarted a Russian aerial strike on Ukrainian units operating maritime drones.
As a result of the special operation, a serviceman from a special-purpose unmanned systems brigade of the Ukrainian Navy was detained. He turned out to be a Russian informant.
The investigation established that the suspect was supposed to pass to his Russian “contact”:
- the geolocations of bases where military personnel operating maritime drones are stationed;
- the coordinates of storage sites for unmanned boats and their movement routes.
Among the main targets of the Russians were the well-known maritime drones of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, codenamed Sea Baby and Magura.
The SSU acted preemptively: it exposed the informant in advance, documented his criminal activities, and detained him while he was preparing coordinates for a Russian missile strike. At the same time, the Security Service took measures to secure the locations of the Defense Forces in the area of Russian intelligence activity.
According to the case materials, the detained serviceman came to the attention of Russian intelligence services through his acquaintances, to whom he had spoken about details of his work. One of these acquaintances was used by the Russian forces as an intermediary to obtain classified information about Ukrainian defenders.
During searches, officers seized a smartphone from the suspect, which he used to store sensitive information and to communicate with the intermediary.
The issue of additional legal qualification of his actions is also being considered. The suspect is being held in custody. The investigation is ongoing to bring all those involved to justice.
