The SSU has neutralized an agent network of russia’s FSB that operated in Kyiv and Kharkiv region. Its members were spying on the locations of the Defence Forces and adjusting russian air strikes.

As was established, the head of the cell was a serving engineer of the Kyiv Metro utility company.

He was recruited in 2015 in moscow during a personal meeting with an FSB officer. The latter’s identity has already been established by the SSU cyber units.

The recruited agent was put on standby and activated after the start of the full-scale war via a message in a messenger app.

He was immediately instructed to create a network. The task of this group was to collect information about locations and routes of Ukrainian troops and their cargo, as well as to adjust missile and drone attacks on them.

The resident agent involved his acquaintances in working for the enemy: a Kharkiv resident who left the military unit after mobilization and had previously worked for Ukrzaliznytsia for 10 years and an international transport driver. The deserter’s task was to track the movement of AFU military echelons, and the driver’s – to identify coordinates of checkpoints and units of the Defence Forces looking for them under the guise of business trips.

It was also revealed that the brother and mother of the cell’s organizer had been involved in these unlawful activities.

The head of the group received the target geolocations from his accomplices, summarized the data and passed the reports to his russian handler.

According to the investigation, the resident personally directed missile strikes on Kyiv, which is confirmed by his intercepted conversations.

The SSU documented the crimes of the aggressor’s agents and detained the group’s head in Kyiv. At the same time, the deserter was detained in Kharkiv.

During the searches, the investigators seized mobile phones with evidence of work for russia. Firearms were also found and sent for forensic examination.

SSU investigators notified the two detainees and two relatives of the cell’s head of suspicion under the Articles of the CCU (in accordance with actions committed):

·      28.2, 111.2 (high treason, committed upon prior conspiracy, by a group, under martial law);

·      436-2.1, 436-2.3 (justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, glorification of its participants).

The decisions on measures of restraint and serving a notice of suspicion to the third member – a transborder driver, who is hiding abroad – are pending. The suspects face 8 years in prison to life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

The operation was carried out under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office.