Ukraine arrests security official suspected of spying for Russia

A Ukrainian serviceman prepares a Vampire attack drone near the front line in Ukraine's Donetsk region on Feb. 8, 2025. (Roman Chop / AP Photo)

Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said on Wednesday it had detained a senior official at its anti-terrorist centre on suspicion of spying for Russia, showing the continued threat posed by secret agents to national security.

The official was the chief of staff of the centre and had been working for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the SBU said on the Telegram messaging app. It did not name him.

“We used encrypted software to get into his gadgets. We were constantly ‘living’ with him... And we managed to qualitatively document the collection and transmission of information to the enemy,” said SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk.

The security service recorded at least 14 such episodes and detained the official for state treason, Maliuk said.

The official had worked in the Ukrainian security service since 2014 and was recruited by FSB in 2018 in Vienna, SBU said.

He had not carried out active espionage activities before Russia’s FSB reestablished contact with him in December, SBU said, adding it was tracking this communication.

Maliuk said the SBU had sent Moscow misinformation during its operation in order to catch the suspected spy, but didn’t provide details.

In the course of the nearly three-year full-scale war with Russia, Ukrainian officials have reported numerous operations to uncover agents recruited by Moscow.

Ukraine has accused them of spying, supplying coordinates of military targets, setting fire to military vehicles and other malign activities.

SBU said that Russia tasked its spy network, which the detained official was part of, with gathering data on Ukraine’s awareness of Russia’s frontline movement, as well as on critical infrastructure and the aftermath of Russian deep strikes into Ukraine.

Information about military and political leadership and Ukraine’s weaponry were matters of interest as well.

“The official worked for the enemy not only for ideological but also for financial reasons,” Ukraine’s SBU said.

SBU has recently also accused Russian spies of orchestrating explosions in military draft offices across Ukraine in order to undermine the mobilization effort.

(Reporting by Yuliia DysaEditing by Christina Fincher, Gareth Jones and Bernadette Baum)