As a result of a multi-stage special operation, the SSU has neutralized a cell of the russian FSB in Kherson. All three members of the enemy group, who adjusted artillery, missile and bomb attacks on the city, have been detained.

In late September this year, the occupiers used their information to completely destroy two private residential buildings in Kherson and damage another five households.

As a result of that strike, 10 civilians sustained injuries of varying severity.

According to the investigation, the organizer and head of the local anti-Ukrainian underground was a former businessman who, after Kherson’s occupation, sided with the enemy.

At that time, he got a job as a ‘technician’ at the occupation ‘russia’s Kherson railway’ and worked to ensure movement of trains with the aggressor’s military equipment.

The man came to the FSB’s attention and they soon recruited him.

After the city’s liberation, the traitor was hiding for a while, but later got in touch with his handler on the temporarily occupied left bank of Kherson oblast and received another assignment from him.

On the FSB’s instructions, he created a group of informants, which included two pro-russian Kherson residents.

One of them took part in filming of staged videos for the kremlin’s mouthpiece, RIA Novosti, during the occupation.

The members of the intelligence network began to determine coordinates of densely populated areas in Kherson. They were also interested in bases and routes of movement of Ukraine’s Defence Forces in the city and its suburbs.

Anonymous messenger apps were used to transmit the collected data to the aggressor.  

The invaders needed the information to carry out massive strikes on the liberated city using missiles, guided aerial bombs, cannon artillery and multiple launch rocket systems.

During the search of the suspects’ homes, the SSU found binoculars, mobile phones and computers used in the criminal activity, as well as pro-kremlin symbols and russian rubles, received for cooperation with the enemy.

The group’s head has been notified of suspicion under Article 111.2 of the CCU (high treason committed under martial law). He is facing life imprisonment.

Two of his accomplices are suspected under Article 114-2.2 of the CCU (unauthorized dissemination of information on sending, transfer of weapons, armaments and ammunition to Ukraine, movement, transfer or deployment of the AFU or other lawful military formations).

The three suspects are in custody. The investigation is ongoing.

The SSU Office in Kherson region carried out the operation jointly with the State Border Guard Service under the procedural supervision of Kherson Region Prosecutor’s Office.