SBU detains Russian agent who adjusted enemy attack on Kyiv on May 24 – source

Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) counterintelligence has detained a Russian agent "red-handed" who adjusted one of the largest Russian air attacks on Kyiv on the night of May 24, a source said, citing the SBU and the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO).

"The suspect was detained the day after the bloody shelling of the capital, while he was conducting additional reconnaissance near a Defense Ministry facility and checking the aftermath of enemy strikes. The agent planned to transmit the gathered data in real-time to a Russian handler to prepare new and adjust repeated strikes on the city," the SBU said.

The investigation established that the enemy's assignment was carried out by an 18-year-old Kyiv resident who caught the attention of the Russian special services while looking for "easy money" on Telegram channels. After recruitment, the agent travelled to the suburbs of the capital, where he marked transport corridors on Google Maps used to move Ukrainian Armed Forces military equipment. This served as a test assignment, after which the suspect was tasked with recording the aftermath of the combined attack on Kyiv and reporting back to Russian forces.

SBU employees documented the agent arriving at one of the Defense Ministry facilities to check its external condition following the nighttime strike.

At the scene, a smartphone containing prepared intelligence reports with detailed descriptions of the shelling aftermath was seized from the detained individual.

Security Service investigators served him with a notice of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (state treason committed under martial law).

A preventive measure in the form of custody has been chosen for the offender. He faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.