Ukraine says it uncovered 12 Russian spies looking for F-16s, air defenses
PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Ukrainian counterintelligence officers are seen executing a raid, 2022. (Courtesy photo via Security Service of Ukraine)
(Reuters) - Ukraine's SBU security service said on Tuesday it had uncovered 12 agents spying for Russia to identify the locations of F-16 fighter jets and air defence systems across Ukraine.
It detained the alleged organiser and four key accomplices on suspicion of treason and sharing information about the location of Ukrainian military, according to a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
The network members worked separately to track down military airfields and air defence locations across five regions in Ukraine's south and northeast, as well as the addresses of companies working on electronic warfare.
Ukraine received its first long-awaited delivery of F-16 jets this summer and has been deploying them for operations within Ukraine, including for air defence during Russia's large-scale air assaults.
The network included some "deserters who left the Armed Forces units without permission and were recruited by the Russian special service while hiding from justice," the SBU said.
The network's members used acquaintances serving on the frontline in Ukraine's military who divulged information without knowing how it would be used, the intelligence service said.
They then conducted further reconnaissance near potential targets before passing information to the group's leader who in turn passed it on to a supervisor in Russia's military intelligence.
The SBU has "neutralised" the agent network and work is continuing to hold its other members accountable, it said. The charges could carry a life sentence.
An SBU source told Reuters the agency had been behind the assassination in Moscow on Tuesday of a top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Anastasiia Malenko; Editing by Alex Richardson and Ros Russell)
