SBU Arrests Russian Spy Linked to Assassination Plot at Ukrainian Defense Plant in Zaporizhzhia

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), working together with the National Police, has thwarted an attempted assassination of an employee at a defense industry enterprise in Zaporizhzhia. Authorities say a Russian intelligence agent was planning to kill a senior specialist at a local defense plant.

This was reported by SBU on December 15.

Investigators identified the suspect as a 23-year-old unemployed resident of Zaporizhzhia who was recruited by Russian intelligence through Telegram channels promoting “easy earnings.” After completing several test assignments, he was tasked with preparing the attack.

According to the investigation, the agent gathered detailed information about the target’s work schedule and travel routes and established a surveillance position near the facility’s checkpoint. He recorded video, tracked the official to his residence, and sent regular reports to his handler in Russia via a messaging app.

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In addition to plotting the assassination, the suspect also scouted locations of Ukraine’s Defense Forces in Zaporizhzhia, information that could have been used for guided aerial bomb strikes. The SBU detained him during further reconnaissance near military transport. A search of his belongings uncovered a smartphone containing evidence of collaboration with Russian intelligence.

The suspect has been charged under Part 2 of Article 111 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, which covers high treason committed during martial law. He is being held without the option of bail and faces a potential life sentence with confiscation of property. The operation was conducted by the SBU in Zaporizhzhia region in coordination with the National Police, under the supervision of the regional prosecutor’s office.

Earlier, chat messages examined by Austria’s Profil magazine indicated that fugitive former Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek helped coordinate an influence campaign tied to Russian intelligence that involved placing fake “pro-Ukraine” graffiti and stickers—some bearing neo-Nazi imagery—around Vienna in an effort to provoke hostility toward Ukraine.

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