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Ukraine’s Secret Service Uncovers 52 Russian Agents in Armed Forces Since Full Scale Invasion Began
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![Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko]( "Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko")
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has exposed 52 active-duty servicemembers working for Russia and dismantled several enemy intelligence networks, SBU reported on August 15.
With the support of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the SBU continues to systematically identify Russian agents and eliminate criminal schemes within the country’s security and defense sector.
According to the SBU, since February 2022, the Military Counterintelligence Department alone has uncovered 207 agents of Russian special services gathering intelligence on Ukraine’s Defense Forces and military facilities. Among them, 52 were active-duty servicemembers, and 44 have already been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 12 to 15 years.
One of those convicted was a former commander of a Ukrainian Special Operations Forces unit who leaked combat plans of Ukrainian special forces operating behind enemy lines. He was arrested in autumn 2024, with investigators seizing covert communication devices containing evidence of contact with a handler—an officer of Russia’s military intelligence service (GRU). He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In 2025 alone, SBU military counterintelligence has dismantled three hostile spy networks.
In Zaporizhzhia region in August, an agent network linked to a Russian special service was exposed. It included a mobilized soldier and the abbot of a local Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) parish. The group directed Russian aerial bombs at Ukrainian Defense Forces positions and recruited new operatives.
In Odesa region, four FSB agents and their resident (senior agent) were detained. They had been adjusting Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian weapons, ammunition, and equipment depots, as well as identifying the locations of Ukrainian air defense units to help the enemy bypass them.
In Lviv region, a 38-year-old informant was arrested for preparing targeting coordinates for Russian missile and drone strikes on airfields housing Ukrainian combat helicopters.
Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy authorized new Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) operations targeting Russian military infrastructure, prioritizing strikes on air defense systems.
