Engineer in Ukraine's Odesa sentenced to 15 years for assisting Russian strikes on city

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has reported the conviction of a 47-year-old resident of Odesa who worked for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and assisted Russian forces in planning missile and drone attacks on the city’s port and critical infrastructure. The court sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property.

According to Caliber.Az, citing the SBU, the investigation established that the man was an engineer at a local factory and came to the attention of Russian intelligence after publishing posts in pro-Kremlin Telegram channels.

Using his professional position and personal contacts, he tracked the locations of defence industry facilities, the deployment of Ukraine’s defence forces, and the aftermath of strikes.

The agent transmitted the collected information to his FSB handlers in the form of Google Maps coordinates, accompanied by detailed descriptions of the targets, to facilitate planning of subsequent attacks. He also took into account the positioning of Ukrainian air defence systems when preparing strike data.

SBU officers exposed him at an early stage of his activities, documented his actions, and detained him at his place of residence. During a search, investigators seized a smartphone containing correspondence and intelligence materials.

By Tamilla Hasanova