One in five people detained in Ukraine for collaborating with Russia was a minor, according to the FT
In Ukraine, 21% of those detained for collaborating with Russian intelligence agencies in 2025 were teenagers. The Financial Times reported this, citing data from Ukrainian intelligence agencies.
According to the publication’s sources, Russian intelligence agencies are increasingly using social media, messaging apps, and online games to recruit young people.
The search for potential operatives is conducted via Telegram, TikTok, Discord, Facebook, and gaming platforms. Minors are offered monetary rewards, mostly in cryptocurrency, for carrying out tasks.
As the Financial Times notes, initially, recruited teenagers were assigned relatively simple tasks—gathering information, posting propaganda flyers, or setting fires.
However, the nature of the tasks later became significantly more dangerous. Young people began to be recruited for:
- spying on Ukrainian military facilities;
- collecting coordinates of strategic targets;
- manufacturing and planting explosive devices;
- sabotage activities in favor of the Russian Federation.
One example involved two groups of teenagers aged 15–16 who were detained near Kharkiv for photographing Ukrainian air defense systems.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine, they received the coordinates of the facilities from Russian handlers via the internet. The tasks were disguised as participation in a supposedly ordinary “scavenger hunt.”
After receiving the information, the Russian side used this data to plan and carry out attacks on the city.
Ukrainian intelligence agencies reported that the youngest child whom Russian agents attempted to recruit for sabotage activities was only 11 years old.
Law enforcement officials emphasize that the enemy deliberately exploits the trust of children and teenagers by offering them easy money and concealing the true purpose of the tasks.
According to the Financial Times, the practice of recruiting minors, which was initially actively used against Ukraine, is now spreading to other European countries.
Signs of such activity have already been observed in:
- Poland;
- the Baltic states;
- the Netherlands;
- the United Kingdom.
European intelligence agencies and Europol warn that the recruitment of teenagers for espionage, sabotage, and other illegal activities is becoming one of the new threats to security in Europe.
Experts urge parents to monitor their children’s online activity more closely and explain the risks of communicating with strangers online, especially when it comes to offers of quick money or performing suspicious tasks.
Recently, the Security Service of Ukraine detained a man suspected of coordinating a Russian missile and drone attack on Dnipro on the night of June 2.
In May, border guards detained approximately 1,100 state border violators
These statistics were announced by Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
