SBU detains Russian agent who directed attack on Kyiv on May 24

Counterintelligence officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have detained an 18-year-old resident of Kyiv who was directing one of Russia’s largest air attacks on the Ukrainian capital on the night of May 24 this year.

According to Ukrinform, the SBU press center reported the arrest.

“The suspect was detained the day after the bloody shelling of the capital, while he was conducting additional reconnaissance near a Ministry of Defense facility and assessing the consequences of the enemy strikes,” the statement said.

The agent planned to transmit the collected data in real time to his handler in Russia in order to prepare new attacks and adjust follow-up strikes on the city.

The investigation established that the assignment was carried out by an 18-year-old Kyiv resident who came to the attention of Russian intelligence services while searching for “easy money” on Telegram channels.

After being recruited, the agent traveled to the outskirts of the capital, where he used Google Maps to mark transport corridors used for moving military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“This was a test assignment, after which the suspect was instructed to record the aftermath of the combined attack on Kyiv and ‘report’ it to the Russians,” the SBU said.

SBU officers documented how the agent arrived at one of the Ministry of Defense facilities to assess its external condition following the overnight strike.

At the scene, authorities seized a smartphone containing prepared intelligence reports with detailed descriptions of the consequences of the shelling.

SBU investigators charged the Kyiv resident under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – high treason committed under martial law.

The suspect has been placed in custody. He faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Read also: Foreign diplomats visit sites of Russian strikes in Kyiv

As previously reported by Ukrinform, during the night of May 24, Russian forces launched a massive attack on Ukraine using drones as well as air-, sea-, and ground-launched missiles, deploying nearly 700 aerial attack weapons in total. The main target of the strike was Kyiv.

Around 300 sites were damaged, nearly 150 of them residential buildings.

There are reports of two people killed and 91 injured.