UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Sep 6 — In Kharkiv, a court sentenced a Russian citizen to five years in prison for collecting data on the Ukrainian Armed Forces and sending them to the Russians to help direct their strikes on the city, reported the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office on September 5. 

Since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, courts have tried and sentenced 382 people, including 338 who were found guilty of collaborationism, 16 — of treason, and 17 — of helping Russia direct missiles on Ukrainian territory.

According to the investigation, a 60-year-old man with Russian citizenship who lived in Kharkiv “for a long time” started working for Russia in May this year. The man is a former serviceman of the Russian Aerospace Forces; he used to be a commander of Su-24 reconnaissance aircraft team.

The Prosecutor’s Office writes that, after establishing contact with the “representative of the aggressor state,”, the man collected information about the locations of the Defense Forces and military equipment and sent this data over in the Telegram messenger with geolocation marks. He did it for free.

The man was detained in June. During the trial, he pleaded guilty. 

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