Since the beginning of the year, the SBU has foiled more than 50 attempts to assassinate military personnel using honey traps
Since the beginning of 2026, the Security Service of Ukraine has thwarted more than 50 assassination attempts against Ukrainian servicemen, whom Russian intelligence agencies tried to lure into so-called “honey traps.”
According to the security service, Russian agents primarily use dating sites and themed chat rooms in messaging apps, where they use fake accounts to offer romantic relationships to military personnel. The men are then invited to meet at prearranged locations where the attackers plan to carry out the assassination.
The SBU notes that the occupiers most often use homemade explosive devices for these killings, as well as lethal poisons synthesized from narcotic, psychotropic, and other chemical substances.
As an example, the security service cited a case from March 2025 in the Kharkiv region, when an FSB agent, posing as a volunteer aid worker, gave a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier food and medicine to which she had added poison.
In another incident, a Russian agent sent a soldier a bottle of drink to which she had added a lethal dose of methadone and suggested he drink it during an online video call. According to the SBU, the package was intercepted, and forensic analysis confirmed the presence of toxic substances in the drink.
Also, in January 2026, the SBU’s counterintelligence unit detained an FSB agent in Zaporizhzhia who, according to the investigation, had attempted to kill a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier. According to law enforcement, the victim was lured to an industrial area of the city under the pretext of a date with a woman he met on a dating site.
According to the SBU, instead of the woman, an assailant wearing a balaclava appeared at the meeting place and stabbed the soldier six times. Law enforcement officers detained the suspect and identified the woman who, according to the investigation, had been communicating with the soldier using a fake account and lured him to the scene of the attack.
Preliminary investigations are currently underway. The suspects are charged with treason, premeditated murder, and a terrorist act. If found guilty, they face life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
This was reported by the SBU press center.
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