SSU Uncovers Mole in Ukrainian Air Force
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) detained a recruited agent of the Russian special services in the Air Force who was gathering information about Ukrainian military aviation.
The SSU press service published details of the detention.
In cooperation with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, military counterintelligence detained a major of the Air Force in the Lviv region, who turned out to be a Russian agent. The Russian invaders recruited him through his former wife, an ex-military officer who works for the aggressor in Melitopol.
Oleksandr Belodedov, a career officer in the Alpha Group of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSS), coordinated the subversive activities of the “mole.”
The agent’s primary mission was to collect intelligence on Ukrainian military aviation. Specifically, the enemy aimed to obtain the locations of operational airfields, logistics hubs, and maintenance centers for the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ combat aircraft.
Thanks to timely efforts by SSU officers, the “mole” was uncovered, his contacts with Russian intelligence were documented, and he was apprehended. He is currently in custody and faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property. Additionally, his ex-wife, who remains in the temporarily occupied southern region of Ukraine, has been charged in absentia with state treason under martial law.
In addition to recruiting military personnel, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation also actively recruits civilians to gather intelligence on Air Force facilities. For example, earlier this year, military counterintelligence neutralized an agent group composed of Ukrainian citizens who were targeting the combat aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
As a result of the special operation, two individuals were caught red-handed near one of Ukraine’s military airfields photographing the takeoff of a Ukrainian F-16.
Besides scouting locations of military equipment bases, they were installing surveillance cameras to monitor the activity of Ukrainian aviation. The FSS handler also demanded reports in text format with photos detailing the types of equipment spotted at each site.
Russian special services are also attempting to infiltrate other branches of the Defense Forces that pose a serious threat to the Russian occupying army. Notably, recently, counterintelligence detained an agent who was preparing an enemy strike against Ukraine’s Neptune anti-ship missile systems.
The recruited 33-year-old serviceman of the Ukrainian Navy, who served in a security unit protecting the launchers of cruise missiles, was supposed to relay the coordinates of their positions to his handlers in Russia.
If the relevant coordinates were obtained, the enemy planned to execute a combined strike using kamikaze drones and cruise missiles against the Ukrainian system that controls the coastal waters of the Black Sea with firepower.
