A couple from Kramatorsk was sentenced to life in prison for working for the FSB
Two residents of Kramatorsk who worked for the FSB were sentenced to life in prison with forfeiture of property. According to the SBU and the prosecutor’s office, the pair rented apartments near key facilities, installed phones equipped with cameras, and transmitted real-time information to Russia about air defense systems, energy infrastructure, and military facilities. Law enforcement officials documented 27 instances of their activities.
Two residents of Kramatorsk, who, according to the case file, worked for Russia’s FSB, were sentenced to life in prison with confiscation of their property. The individuals in question are a 29-year-old man and his 36-year-old live-in partner. The court found the man guilty of treason and the woman guilty of money laundering. Both had been in custody pending sentencing.
According to the investigation, the man began collaborating with the Russian intelligence service in the fall of 2023. At that time, he used Telegram to pass information to an FSB representative—for $200—about the consequences of a Russian missile and bombing strike on infrastructure. In April 2024, as the investigation established, he had already agreed to regularly carry out tasks assigned by his Russian handler in exchange for money.
Later, the man recruited his live-in partner to assist him. According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, at that time he was being held in a pretrial detention center on charges of stealing headphones. While there, he allegedly briefed the woman, and after his release, they began carrying out FSB assignments together. The couple operated not only in their hometown of Kramatorsk. According to law enforcement officials, they gathered information in the Donetsk, Poltava, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Sumy regions.
One of their methods was quite simple. The agents rented apartments with a view of sites of interest to the Russian side. They placed cell phones with cameras near the windows, connected them to external batteries, and set up remote access. As a result, Russian intelligence services were able to monitor specific sites in real time. These included, in particular, critical infrastructure facilities, military airfields, and air defense positions. Using the same method, agents left equipment along a highway in the Kramatorsk district.
In addition, they themselves took photographs and videos of air defense systems, hydroelectric power plants, and other facilities, and then transmitted the materials to a Russian handler. The SBU also reports that the FSB was interested in backup command posts, logistics centers, and other facilities of the Defense Forces. Separately, the prosecutor’s office reported on the consequences of this activity. Based on some of the coordinates provided by the agents—particularly regarding the territory of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant—Russia subsequently carried out missile strikes.
In total, law enforcement documented 27 incidents involving this couple’s activities. They received over 1.2 million hryvnias for working for Russia. According to the investigation, the woman used part of this money to purchase a house in the Donetsk region.
Law enforcement officials also determined that the couple attempted to launder the money received from the Russian side through real estate transactions. During searches of the couple’s residence, law enforcement seized phones and other materials which, according to the investigation, confirmed their contacts with the FSB. The SBU exposed the couple in August 2024 in Kramatorsk. Following their arrest, law enforcement conducted searches and seized equipment which, according to the investigation, was used to gather intelligence.
As a result, the court found both guilty of high treason committed by a group of individuals acting in prior conspiracy under martial law. The woman was also found guilty of laundering property obtained through criminal means. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment and confiscation of property. According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, the convicted individuals expressed a desire to be exchanged for prisoners in Russia.
This case demonstrates that Russian intelligence services use not only people who work directly on the front lines or have access to military facilities to gather information. In this case, the agents acted like an ordinary couple, rented an apartment, and used regular phones, turning them into hidden cameras. All of the circumstances described above have been established by the court as part of the criminal case and are based on information released by the SBU and the Office of the Prosecutor General. This was reported by the SBU and the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Earlier, a court found a foreman at the Teofipol Town Council’s municipal enterprise guilty of attempting to illegally appropriate oak timber worth nearly 400,000 hryvnias.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has adopted a resolution allowing, for the duration of martial law and for 12 months following its conclusion, timber harvested during sanitary logging to be excluded from the harvesting limits for main-use logging.
