Ukraine’s security services have detained a Belarusian national in Kyiv accused of spying for Belarus’ KGB, the country’s state security agency, and attempting to infiltrate Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) to collect classified information and recruit agents, officials said.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) said the suspect, a 35-year-old Belarusian citizen, worked for the KGB of Belarus, the successor to the Soviet-era Committee for State Security, which remains the main domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency under self-proclaimed President Alexander Lukashenko.
According to investigators, the woman operated under the cover of journalism, using media credentials to build contacts among Ukrainian politicians, military personnel and foreign diplomats. Authorities say she had been working for the Belarusian security service since 2015.
At the same time, a number of media outlets point to former journalist of TV channels 112 and Interfax-Ukraine Inna Kardash.
During Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, her handler allegedly ordered her to travel to a European Union country for in-person instructions. She was tasked with gathering information on Belarusians and Russians fighting on Ukraine’s side and establishing informal contacts with Chinese diplomats in Kyiv, officials said.
After returning to Ukraine, the suspect attempted to secure a position within a staff unit of Ukraine’s military intelligence. She was placed under surveillance by internal security officers, who monitored her activities as part of a long-running counterintelligence operation.
In an audio recording published by the SBU, Kardash discusses with her handler how to cheat the polygraph during her employment at HUR.
“I mustn’t know, because I have to take a polygraph test, I mustn’t know who I’m talking to,” she says.
Ukrainian authorities said the suspect previously worked as a correspondent for a television channel linked to pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk and later obtained a position at a Ukrainian news outlet before the full-scale war.
The Security Service of Ukraine said it conducted a prolonged operational game, documenting the suspect’s actions and providing controlled information through her to Belarusian intelligence while recording attempts to recruit potential agents.
Audio and video materials released by Ukrainian authorities show the suspect acknowledging her role as an intelligence operative posing as a journalist. In one recording, she says the cover suited her skills in obtaining information. Her handler later offered her a monthly payment of 3,000 euros for cooperation, investigators said.
“I’m just better suited to the role of an undercover scout posing as a journalist. That’s the truth. I’m really good at getting information,” she says in a conversation with the KGB curator of the Republic of Belarus.
In another recording, the agent tries to recruit a Ukrainian Defense Forces serviceman, convincing him that her activities are known and supported not only by the KGB, but by “our country’s top person” – an apparent reference to Lukashenko – so there is nothing to fear. When the serviceman expresses doubts, Kardash becomes indignant:
“You want to explain to me, a person with 10 years of experience in the services, how it works? You want to teach me something? I don’t think so.”
Her interlocutor responds: “It doesn’t work that way. And with your 10 years of experience, you should already understand that.”
The suspect was detained near her residence in Kyiv. Investigators seized a smartphone and a voice recorder allegedly used to record sensitive information. She has been charged with espionage and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, officials said.