Military counterintelligence officers and SSU` investigators collected evidence on five more traitors, who fought against the Defense Forces in eastern Ukraine.

Fighting alongside russian occupation groups, the offenders were taken prisoners by the Ukrainian defenders in Donetsk region in early July this year.

One of the captured was a rifleman from the 4th separate motorized rifle brigade of the russian army. His entire platoon was destroyed during the battle for Chasiv Yar. After the battle, the traitor hid for two weeks in the surrounding forests, where he was eventually detained by Ukrainian defenders.

The offender is a resident of the temporarily occupied Verkhnioharasymivka village in Luhansk region, who volunteered to join the occupiers on February 24, 2022.

Another perpetrator is a former resident of Odesa region. Before the full-scale invasion, a man left for russia, where he arrived at the military registration and enlistment office in moscow region and signed a contract with the russian Ministry of Defense as a war began.

After some brief trainings at the training grounds, he was sent to storm the UAF positions in the Siverskyi direction. There, he was captured near the village of Verkhniokamianske.

The other defendant is a resident of the temporarily occupied part of Donetsk region. As a member of the occupation unit ‘Storm-Z’, he took part in the brutal attacks on Krasnohorivka.

Two more traitors come from the Luhansk region. One of them went to Mahadan at the beginning of the full-scale war where he later joined the 39^th separate motorized rifle brigade of the russian armed forces. During the battles in the area of Vuhledar, he was taken prisoner.

The SSU investigators notified all detainees of suspicion (according to the crimes committed) under such Articles of the CCU:

• Article 111.1,2 (high treason)
• Article 111-1,7 (voluntary participation of a citizen of Ukraine in illegal armed or paramilitary groups established in the temporarily occupied territory and/or in the armed formations of the aggressor state)

The offenders face life imprisonment.

The operation was conducted by the SSU Offices in Donetsk and Luhansk regions under the procedural supervision of Donetsk Region Prosecutor’s Office.