Kyiv, Oct 3 (EFE).- Ukraine has claimed to have busted a large espionage network responsible for transmitting sensitive defense-related information to the Russian armed forces.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said the spy ring, discovered in the southern Mykolaiv province, was one of the largest networks of Russian agents detected on Ukrainian soil since the onset of the Russian military invasion on Feb.24, 2022.
The authorities apprehended 13 residents in Mykolaiv who were allegedly serving as “informants” for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), according to a statement from the SBU.
The investigation suggests that these agents were providing the Russian secret service with critical intelligence regarding the locations of military bases and the movements of Ukrainian armed forces in the southern region of the country.
The suspected spies are also accused of assisting Russia in refining the precision of its attacks, allowing Kremlin forces to target “residential and social infrastructure” more effectively in Mykolaiv.
One of their tasks, as reported by the SBU, included supplying information to Russia regarding an attack that occurred in the fall of 2022 involving an S-300 missile striking a multi-story building in the city of Mikolayiv, the capital of the eponymous region.
The attack resulted in the deaths of seven individuals, including a minor.
The official Ukrinform news agency said the SBU alleged that the Russian informers passed the coordinates of Ukrainian sites to Russia’s FSB Federal Security Service through a “communicator.”
The communicator allegedly turned out to be pro-Kremlin blogger Sergei Lebedev (better known under the pseudonym “Lokhmaty”).
The blogger works for the Russian special service as a “freelance correspondent” of the Moscow news agency RIA-Novosti. EFE
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