Ukrainian security forces detained in Kyiv and Odesa two agents of the Russian Security Service (FSB) who were preparing missile strikes on military units, TV towers in Kyiv and energy facilities, the Security Service of Ukraine reported on Wednesday (SBU), while in recent days Kyiv seems , is sending word that it is consolidating its espionage and special operations targeting Russia.

According to the investigation conducted by the Prosecutor General’s Office, at the end of January 2024, both informants were recruited remotely by an FSB employee. They operated separately from each other and were paid for their cooperation, News.ro reports.

In order to secretly collect information, one of the Russian agents, a technological engineer of a food enterprise in Odesa, allegedly got a job as a dispatcher at an enterprise that supplies food for the Ukrainian army. He gave the occupiers data on eight places of deployment of the Armed Forces in Odesa. The coordinates were of one of the military academies, a unit of the Air Force, a marine guard unit of the State Border Service, some units of the National Police and some territorial recruitment points.

Another suspect, a 24-year-old from Kyiv, was gathering information about the technical condition of the TV tower in Kyiv. It was also bombed in March 2022. The suspect also photographed the thermal power plant, which supplies electricity and heat to a large part of the capital region.

According to the investigation, this information was needed by the FSB to correct repeated or new attacks on the thermal power plant and the TV tower in Kyiv.

In addition, the man traveled to Poltava Oblast several times to monitor National Guard facilities, according to the SBU.

During the searches of the suspects, the police seized mobile phones with evidence of correspondence with the FSB and bank cards to which money was transferred.

Zelensky is making changes at the top of security

The operation, announced by the Security Service of Ukraine on Wednesday, comes after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov in a surprise gesture on Tuesday night and replaced him with the head of his foreign intelligence service (SZRU). , Oleksandr Lytvynenko. No reason was given for the changes, announced in a series of dryly worded executive orders posted on the president’s website, but last month the president began a broader reshuffle of the military leadership.

Speaking later in his video speech at night, Zelenskyi said that he expects “strengthening of the state’s strategic capabilities to predict and influence the processes on which national security depends.” Zelensky also said that Lytvynenko, about whom little is known, would combine his experience as an intelligence chief with the security and defense challenges facing Ukraine.

For his part, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Valery Malyuk said at the end of last week during a teleconference that the Ukrainian authorities discovered 47 Russian espionage networks that operated inside the country last year. According to him, since the beginning of the large-scale invasion of Moscow, more than 2,000 people suspected of “treason” have been arrested.

Russia wants to arrest SBU head Vasyl Malyuk

The head of the Security Service of Ukraine, 41-year-old Vasyl Malyuk, has been the head of the SBU for a little over a year. During that time, his service claimed some attacks on Russian targets, while others he only made clear were the handiwork of his agents. This is what happened on Monday evening, when in an interview with one of the TV channels, Malyuk spoke in surprising detail about the extrajudicial killings of several opponents of Kyiv, committed on the territory of Russia and on the Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow. He did not directly say that these were SBU operations, but made it clear that they were.

As a result, the Basmanny Court of Moscow on Tuesday issued a warrant for Malyuk’s arrest in absentia, formally as part of the investigation into the explosion that killed people in 2022 on the Russian Bridge in the annexed Crimea.

The head of Russia’s FSB, Oleksandr Bortnikov, went even further, calling for the SBU to be recognized as a terrorist organization.

The kid mocked Moscow’s arrest warrant, saying it came from the Kremlin’s “pocket judges,” and Ukraine, for its part, is making every effort to have Putin tried at the Hague Tribunal.

The head of the SBU spoke about the liquidation of some anti-Ukrainian figures in a Russian court

In an interview that was broadcast on Monday evening by the Ukrainian channel ICTV, Malyuk told the details of the attacks on the Russian opponents of Kyiv. The interview was broadcast in the context of the fact that Russia has just accused Ukraine of organizing Friday’s attack on a concert hall in Moscow, which resulted in the death of at least 139 people. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, and Kyiv categorically denies its involvement.

When asked whether the SBU was involved in the “liquidation” of Ukraine’s enemies, Malyuk answered the journalist who interviewed him: “Officially, we do not recognize this, but I will tell you some details.”

He then listed the methods by which various opponents of the Ukrainian government were killed or maimed in Russia and in the occupied territories.

“These and other scoundrels are paying karmic debts to the Ukrainian people,” he noted ironically.

He was referring to the pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politician Ilya Kiva, whose body was found in the suburbs of Moscow in December, and Kyiv was blamed for his murder. Calling Kiva a “traitor”, Malyuk said that the weapon with which he was killed “was a 9×19 mm with a short barrel. It was a shot in the chest followed by a control shot in the head,” he clarified.

He also suggested that his entire service was behind the murder of anti-Ukrainian military blogger Vladlen Tatarskyi, who was detonated with a statuette given to him in a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia. The woman was sentenced in January to 27 years in prison for this attack in April 2023. “There were 400 grams of thermobaric (explosive), it affected him like a razor blade,” said Malyuk, suggesting that the young woman had been tricked. handing him a statuette.

The kid also gave chilling details about pro-Kremlin writer Zakhar Prilepin – a “true war criminal” who was injured in a car bombing in Russia last May that killed his assistant. “His pelvis and legs were badly injured and, unfortunately, he was left without his genitals,” Malyuk said on television during the operation, which appeared to have been carried out to anger the Russians. Prilepin quickly reacted on Telegram, calling Malyuk a “moron” and offering to show his genitals to the mediator.

Malyuk also reported that the so-called general prosecutor of Luhansk, appointed by Moscow, was blown up in his office together with his deputy. “There were 800 grams of plastic in the office,” he said.

The head of the SBU, the so-called minister of internal affairs of the occupied Luhansk, Ihor Kornet, also said that he “went to shave at the barber shop, where he went once a week, and there he exploded.” “True, he remained alive, with serious disabilities,” said Malyuk.

The number of targeted killings against such officials who cooperated with Russian forces is significant, and there are likely to be more, he added, Kyiv Post reports.

On the other hand, he also talked about one of the most publicized attempts on the Russian political philosopher and close associate of Vladimir Putin, Oleksandr Dugin. The operation failed when the Kremlin propagandist swapped cars with his daughter Daria Dugina on August 20, 2022, and she died in a car explosion, Malyuk said.

In addition to assassinations and intelligence gathering, the SBU conducts an ongoing campaign against Russian oil refineries using long-range kamikaze drones. The attacks began in early 2024 and hit all 15 oil refineries in the European part of Russia. During the 10 weeks of attacks, the domestic production of petroleum products in Russia decreased by 12%, which forced the Kremlin to announce a complete ban on the export of gasoline from March 1, the head of Ukraine’s intelligence said, citing the Kyiv Post. Ukrainian army operators help attack oil refineries inside Russia, Malyuk said.

The kid announces new special operations in Russia

In the same interview, Malyuk predicted new special operations in Russia, noting that “the SBU never repeats itself,” Ukrainian Pravda writes.

“The Russians should expect another round of applause… We never repeat ourselves, and if they change their defenses in relation to our maritime drones, we are one step ahead. Everything has its time, you will see everything,” said Malyuk.

He stated that Ukrainian-made Sea Baby and Mamai drones have already managed to hit 11 Russian ships and unblock traffic in the Black Sea.

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