The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained a man who was attempting to escape to Transnistria after allegedly joining the Ukrainian military to spy on the front line for Russia, the SBU's press service reported on March 5.
According to the SBU, the man is from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and obtained a law degree from Moscow State University in the 2000s.
After graduating from university, he returned to Ukraine and supposedly did not carry out intelligence activities for Russia until 2023, when he joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The suspect was sent to the front line near Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, where he allegedly began to share information with Russian military intelligence via the Telegram messaging application "about the locations of bases and movements of units of the Armed Forces near the front line," the SBU said.
The man then fled from the area where his unit was based and took a taxi to the border between Ukraine and Moldova in Vinnytsia Oblast to get to Transnistria.
"Law enforcement officers detained the suspect when he was preparing to cross the border river using a wetsuit and flippers," the SBU said.
If convicted, the man faces life imprisonment.
Elsa Court
