Russian Spies Have Infiltrated Ukraine’s Defense Sector, Kyiv Authorities Claim

Russia is using spies from inside Ukraine’s defence sector to pass sensitive information back to Moscow, Ukrainian authorities have claimed.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s representative to the Ukrainian parliament, Fedir Venislavskyi, said on Thursday that intelligence had highlighted that espionage from within the defense sector was allowing Russia to anticipate Ukrainian moves on the battlefield and was potentially undermining the war effort.

“We cannot underestimate the enemy,” Venislavskyi said in a briefing on Thursday. “Their main intelligence directorate unfortunately has many agents, including in our defense sector.

“I think that they partly understand the next steps of our armed forces that we will see in the near future.”

Meanwhile, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) continue to work around the clock to investigate and detain Russian agents operating inside Ukraine.

Over the past month a plethora of arrests have been made, including Russians attempting to infiltrate the Ukrainian Armed Forces, local government officials, and FSB agents who were caught attempting to pass on coordinates of thermal power plants in Kyiv.

“The traitors were interested in locations of Ukrainian military units, including the National Guard of Ukraine, thermal power plants and railway junctions,” the SSU said in an official statement on Wednesday, September 21.

“The collected information was passed to occupiers through anonymous Telegram channels. For each ‘report’, the invaders paid the agents UAH 5,000 (USD 117).

“To conceal payments, the spies used electronic cryptocurrency exchanges and bank cards issued for fictitious persons.

“According to the investigation, the group was formed by a staff member of the FSB Rostov office after the full-scale invasion started and included four residents of Kyiv.

“The agents took photos of facilities and sent data to Russians with markings on electronic maps and detailed descriptions of the surrounding areas.

“The occupiers planned to use the obtained data to carry out a series of missile strikes on Kyiv in preparation for the heating season. However, the SSU was ahead of the curve and promptly exposed, located and detained the traitors.”