The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed that Russian intelligence recruited a Ukrainian deserter for a failed contract killing in Kyiv.
The SBU said it stopped the attempt in its tracks before the 33-year-old conscript, who “voluntarily left the military unit,” received the information on his assassination target.
According to the SBU’s Friday press release, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) recruited the suspect when he was serving in the “North-West Frontier Province,” where he was reportedly looking for quick cash on Telegram channels.
The SBU said the FSB supplied a Makarov pistol with 50 rounds of ammunition via a hidden cache, where the plan was to have the suspect conduct multiple sabotage and espionage missions before providing him with the assassination target.
“After recruitment, the agent arrived in Kyiv, where, as a ‘test task,’ he first set fire to several Defense Forces vehicles,” the press release states.
“The killer was supposed to receive the identity of a potential victim for murder from the curator in the near future, after completing another task from the enemy – conducting reconnaissance of one of the military units in Kyiv,” it adds.
As part of his mission to spy on Ukrainian defense facilities, the SBU said the suspect rented an apartment near a military building and worked as a courier to scout out the area at the instructions of his FSB handler.
The SBU said it arrested the suspect after he set fire to vehicles and discovered the pistol, ammunition, and the assassination attempt upon the arrest.
The man is charged with the “obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations during a special period” and potentially high treason during martial law, where he might face life imprisonment if convicted.
The SBU has reported similar arrests in the past, in which active and former military personnel were arrested for reportedly working at the behest of Russian intelligence.
In May, it was reported that a military driver in the Kursk region supplied his live coordinates to Russian troops to aid attacks on his own unit, where he was tipped off right before a strike.
In early May, the SBU reported another incident in which a soldier serving in the Kharkiv region was reportedly recruited by Russia’s Military Intelligence (GRU) to supply troop and equipment locations, including those of his own unit.