KHARKIV OBLAST, UKRAINE, Apr 25 — The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained a former Ukrainian conscript who was allegedly working for the FSB and directing Russian missile attacks on the Kharkiv region, the SBU’s spokesman Vladyslav Abdula reported.

According to the SBU, following the man’s guidance, the Russian Federation planned to carry out a missile attack on the civilian infrastructure of one of the frontline cities in the region. Abdula says SBU detained a man near the frontline in the Kupiansk direction when he was trying to get to the Russians’ positions.

Russia has intensified the shelling of the Kharkiv and Kharkiv region since March 2024, targeting both civilian and critical infrastructure.

The suspect / Photo: Vladyslav Abdula.

SBU says the man is a former conscript of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He reportedly decided to cooperate with the FSB on the eve of his discharge because of his parents, who live in the temporarily occupied territory in the east of Ukraine and are under the surveillance of the Russian special forces. Through his parents, Russians “negotiated” with the conscript to pass on the coordinates of targets and offered him an escape plan after “demobilization.”

The man allegedly used anonymous chat apps to send Google map marks of “necessary” geolocations to the Russian military.

The man faces up to eight years in prison for dissemination of information about the movement, transfer, or location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or other military formations if convicted.

In total, since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion, authorities issued a notice of suspicion over treason, collaborationism, and dissemination of information about the movement Ukrainian army to more than 1,000 people in the Kharkiv Oblast.

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