A Russian agent who changed 77 phone numbers was exposed within the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

The Military Counterintelligence Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine, in cooperation with the State Bureau of Investigation, exposed a military officer recruited by the FSB who was passing on the coordinates of Ukrainian military facilities on the southern front to Russia. To conceal his ties to the Russian intelligence service, the agent changed 77 phone numbers and used 18 smartphones.

The operation was carried out with the assistance of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 

According to the investigation, the detainee was a contract soldier recruited by the FSB. He coordinated Russian strikes on Defense Forces targets in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

To conceal his communications with the Russian intelligence service, the suspect used 18 smartphones and changed his SIM cards every two days. In total, he changed 77 phone numbers.

After being recruited, the soldier recorded voice messages for his Russian handler with detailed descriptions of the military facilities where he was stationed.

The Russian intelligence service was most interested in the geolocations of engineering crossings and fortifications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine located 5–10 km from the front line.

In addition, the agent marked the locations of adjacent Ukrainian military units on Google Maps and transmitted their coordinates to the enemy.

As the investigation revealed, the servicemember came to the FSB’s attention while looking for “easy” money on specialized Telegram channels.

SBU officers took timely measures to secure the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in southern Ukraine.

The agent was detained after he left his military unit without authorization and attempted to hide, first in Odesa and later in Mykolaiv. According to the SBU, he planned to “lay low.”

Investigators informed the servicemember that he is suspected of violating two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—treason committed under martial law;
• Part 5 of Article 407 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—unauthorized absence from a military unit.

The suspect is currently in custody without the right to bail. He faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Comprehensive investigative measures were carried out under the procedural supervision of the Kherson Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Defense Affairs of the Southern Region.

This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

Based on evidence gathered by counterintelligence and Security Service investigators, a Russian military intelligence agent—whom the SBU exposed in October 2024 in Kharkiv—was sentenced to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.

As a reminder, an FSB agent who was coordinating Russian attacks on energy facilities was exposed and detained in the Vinnytsia region. The woman was gathering information on power generation facilities and transmitting their coordinates to the enemy.

Earlier, the SBU and the National Police thwarted yet another attempt by Russian special services to destabilize the situation in Kyiv. This time, an FSB agent was detained in the center of the capital while preparing to set fire to the building of the Institute of National Memory of Ukraine.

A Russian agent operating in the Kirovohrad region was sentenced to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property. Acting on orders from the Russian Federation, the perpetrator attempted to install a GPS tracker on a special-purpose vehicle escorting convoys of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.