The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained a female operative of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), who provided coordinates for a drone strike on state institutions in Kyiv on January 1, 2025.
According to Ukrinform, the SBU reported this.
Russia prioritized administrative buildings and energy facilities in Ukraine.
The agent used GPS coordinates on her mobile phone and took photos of target locations to embed geolocation data in the file properties. These were sent to her Russian handler via an anonymous messaging app.
The spy also conducted reconnaissance near air defense positions near Kyiv.
It has been documented how she conducted reconnaissance near the location of the Ukrainian military radar station near the capital.
The agent was apprehended in her rented apartment in Kyiv while attempting to send another set of intelligence data to the GRU.
The agent turned out to be a 27-year-old local unemployed woman who was looking for easy earnings on Telegram channels. There, a representative of the Russian military intelligence approached her and offered money in exchange for cooperation.
During searches at the detainee’s home, her mobile phone, containing evidence of cooperation with the Russian GRU, and a large number of SIM cards, which she used for hiding communication with the Russians, were seized.
The SBU investigators informed the suspect of the charges under part 2 of Article 114-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (unauthorized dissemination of information about the placement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or other military formations, committed during martial law).
The woman is in custody. She faces life imprisonment with property confiscation.
As noted by the Office of the Prosecutor General, the woman received an offer in early November 2024 to photograph radar stations in Kyiv region and send the photos to her employer via Telegram. She was promised $500 for the job, but was only paid for taxi services.
On December 31, 2024, the suspect received a new assignment – to photograph a checkpoint in the government district near the Verkhovna Rada building. The same day, she sent the photo to her employer.
The very next day, on January 1, 2025, this area of the capital was attacked by Russian drones. During the attack on Kyiv on January 1, the couple of scientists, neurobiologist Ihor Zyma and Doctor of Biological Sciences Olesia Sokur, were killed.
As reported by Ukrinform, the SBU neutralized an FSB spy network that, on the orders of the Russians, had been gathering information on officials from international organizations and volunteers in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Odesa.
Source: SBU detains сoordinator of Russian attack on Kyiv on Jan 1
