The Security Service’s Counterintelligence Department has neutralised a russian military intelligence (GRU) spy network in the Kharkiv region. Following a special operation coordinated by the SSU Acting Head Major General Oleksandr Poklad, four members of the group were detained. They had been guiding the strikes on the region and surveilling Ukrainian soldiers, law enforcement officers, and judges.

Furthermore, acting on russia’s orders, the group was harbouring a man convicted of justifying russia’s armed aggression in a safe house in Kharkiv.

The investigation revealed that the cell included the head of the security unit of a mobile telecoms company and one of his subordinates.

Acting on the GRU’s instructions, they collected personal data on Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel, law enforcement officers, and judges.

It has been documented that the ruscists tasked these agents with gathering information on the prosecutor and judges handling the criminal proceedings against a propagandist whom the perpetrators were harbouring.

They utilised their access to the mobile operator’s software to obtain data on subscribers’ telephone calls and geolocation to this end.

A third member of the spy network was a local defence enterprise employee who rented out a flat to Ukrainian soldiers. Acting on the enemy’s orders, she elicited information about the military’s deployment locations and their movement routes from the soldiers. Furthermore, the woman provided targeting information to the GRU to guide strikes against the enterprise where she worked.

Another agent, a resident of Kharkiv, drove around the city and surrounding areas in a company car with the other agents – the two mobile operator security unit employees. During these trips, he used his smartwatch to film defence facilities, including backup command posts, fortifications, and checkpoints manned by Ukrainian defenders.

The SSU Counterintelligence acted pre-emptively and exposed the entire spy ring in time. After documenting their crimes, every member was apprehended.

According to the investigation, the assets were recruited by russia through a contact in Kharkiv who travelled to russia before the start of the war and began working for the russian GRU as a ‘liaison’.

SSU investigators have notified all those detained of their status as suspects under Article 111.2 of the CCU (high treason, committed under martial law).

The suspects are in custody and face life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

The operation was carried out by the SSU Office in the Kharkiv region under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor’s Office.