Russian spy detained in Kharkiv, who was looking for secret document caches and preparing attacks on city

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the SSU.

"In this way, the occupiers hoped to destroy the technological documents, plans and drawings stored in these storages and necessary for the restoration of industrial enterprises in the region," the statement said.

In order to adjust the air attack, the Russian intelligence service recruited a Russian citizen who lives in Kharkiv and works in the city branch of a bank.

To obtain the coordinates of the targets, the offender tried to use his acquaintance, an employee of a local government agency with access to classified information.

Under the guise of domestic communication in a messenger, the Russian asked the woman about the location of secret document storage facilities.

SSU CI exposed the spy at the initial stage of his criminal activity. Thanks to this, his every step was documented, and at the final stage of the special operation, he was detained in his own home.

In addition, the investigation revealed that the offender was also reconnoitering the locations of the Defence Forces in Kharkiv.

To do this, he regularly drove around the city in his own car and recorded the locations of Ukrainian defenders on a hidden video recorder.

According to the investigation, the spy was in direct contact with a representative of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (known as the GRU). Communication was maintained through an anonymous chat in a messenger.

During the search of the detainee's apartment, the SSU seized a Russian passport, a car DVR with footage of military facilities and mobile phones with evidence of communication with the aggressor.

The SSU investigators served the offender a notice of suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Part 1 Article 114 (espionage), Part 3 Article 114-2 (unauthorised dissemination of information about the Armed Forces of Ukraine committed with the aim of providing such information to a state that carries out armed aggression against Ukraine).

The offender is in custody. He faces 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.

As Ukrinform previously reported, the SSU and the National Police neutralised an agent group of the Russian FSB that was preparing arson attacks in crowded places in Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States.

Photo: SBU