Ukrainian Mole Helped Russia Target Airfields With F-16, Mirage Jets: Kyiv
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said the unnamed major was arrested for passing on information to Russia to be used for strikes on sites hosting Western-supplied F-16 Mirage 2000 aircraft as well as Soviet-era Sukhoi-24 planes.
He has been charged with treason and Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
The arrest follows the detention in June of a 42-year-old conscript in Kharkiv who had been serving in a National Guard assault brigade and working for the Russians.
The delivery of Western aircraft from Ukraine's allies took years of negotiations and the prospect that they could have been destroyed due to Russian espionage highlights the danger posed by Moscow's moles to Kyiv's fight against President Vladimir Putin's aggression.
Ukraine's military counterintelligence said it had uncovered an agent from Russia's military intelligence (GRU) who had infiltrated Ukraine's forces.
The statement said he had been acting as a pilot instructor in an unnamed air brigade that performs combat missions to shoot down enemy missiles.
He was discovered to have passed on information to Moscow to prepare new Russian missile and drone attacks on air force facilities, including airfields where the F-16, Mirage 2000 and Su-24 aircraft were based. It is not immediately clear where the airbases were located.
The agent collected aircraft coordinates and schedules, and prepared and provided information to Moscow about how to strike these targets while bypassing Ukrainian defenses.
Using an anonymous email channel and messenger services, he also passed on data about Ukrainian pilots and tactics of Kyiv's combat missions.
He was caught when he tried to gather further information and has been charged with high treason, which could see him face life imprisonment and confiscation of his property.
The Russian infiltration comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said ending Moscow's influence in two anti-corruption bodies was behind a law that sought to end their independence. This sparked protests, although he signed legislation Thursday that reversed course on the policy.
Ukraine's Security Service, in a statement: "The mole turned out to be a flight instructor, a major of one of the Ukrainian Air Force brigades.
"The unit where this officer served performs combat missions to intercept enemy missiles and drones and covers Ukrainian forces with strikes on ground targets during operations."
The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by Ukraine's SBU in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region under the prosecutor's office in the Field of Defense of the Western Region. No date has been announced for the trial.
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