Belarusian KGB agent caught spying on Ukrainian defenses near Belarus's border, Ukraine's SBU says
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained an agent of the Belarusian secret police (KGB) accused of gathering intelligence on Ukraine's border defenses, the SBU said on July 28.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine via Belarus in 2022, Kyiv has been reinforcing the border with its northern neighbor — one of Moscow's closest allies — even as the frontier has remained largely quiet for three years.
The suspected agent, detained in Ukraine's western Volyn Oblast, was identified as a 24-year-old unemployed local resident who had sought quick money via the messaging platform Telegram.
"Hoping to receive funds from Belarusian intelligence, he agreed to carry out their assignments," the statement read. "These included monitoring checkpoints and fortified positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces along the northern border."
On behalf of the Belarusian KGB, the suspect also attempted to track military trains moving through the region or stationed at Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) transit hubs, the SBU said.
The alleged spy recorded Ukrainian defensive positions and marked their geolocations using Google Maps, according to the statement.
The suspect was detained at his residence, where security officers seized a phone with an anonymous chat on the messaging app he allegedly used to communicate with Belarusian intelligence.
The suspected agent is currently in custody and faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
Belarus has been a key ally to Moscow and has previously been reported as hosting Russian tactical nuclear arms on its territory, after the two countries signed an agreement in May 2023.
The country's dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, said in 2022 that he "fully supports Russia's attack on Ukraine."
The KGB has begun increasingly targeting Ukrainians living in the country since the all-out war started.
