Ukraine Nabs Spies Surveiling F-16 Fighters

Ukraine has arrested two agents tasked by Moscow to spy on the country’s F-16 fighter jets, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Tuesday.  

According to the SBU’s press release, the two suspects were tasked by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) with collecting coordinates and identifying facilities hosting Ukraine’s F-16 fighters in five different regions.

“The agents’ task was to collect the exact coordinates of the main and reserve airfields and aviation infrastructure facilities of Ukraine so that the enemy could later launch missile and drone strikes on them.

“In addition to geolocations, they had to make a text and photo report, in which they had to indicate and describe what equipment was located at each of the facilities,” the press release says.

The SBU said the two suspects planned to travel to five different Ukrainian regions by bus and rent houses near the airfields to fulfill their objectives. They were arrested while photographing the planes at an unspecified location.

The two suspects were aged 22 and 21, from Kremenchuk in central Ukraine. They were recruited by a female FSB agent whose identity was previously established by the SBU. The SBU did not disclose how they were recruited.

Mobile phones “containing evidence of working for the enemy” were confiscated upon arrest. The two are charged with high treason and face life in prison if convicted.

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The commander of Ukraine’s 414th Strike UAV Battalion posted a video showing how a mobile radar detected the incoming UAV and sent its own kamikaze drones to bring it down.

Ukraine is estimated to have more than 10 F-16 fighters at present, which are currently relegated to air defense sorties – including one that downed six cruise missiles in a single sortie – without conducting any surface attack missions.

Earlier, the SBU reported that a Ukrainian cadet at a military institute was reportedly plotting to help Russia adjust missile strikes on a facility in Western Ukraine – with her classmates present – under promises of financial rewards and subsequent extraction to Russia.