Ukrainian security services arrest suspected Russian agents who searched for F-16 locations

On December 19, 2024By Littum

Ukraine’s SBU security service said on Tuesday it had uncovered a network of agents working for Russian military intelligence who were trying to find out where Ukraine keeps its Western-supplied F-16 jets.

Kiev received its first F-16 fighter jets in August after asking its Western allies for months to send the planes to help intercept Russian missiles. Their location is a closely guarded secret.

The SBU said it “neutralized a large-scale agent network” of 12 agents and their informants who “attempted to identify the locations of secret military airfields where, according to the Russians, the F-16s could be based.”

The agents were also said to have carried out reconnaissance operations on the firing positions of Ukraine’s air defense systems and tried to find companies that produced electronic warfare equipment to counter drones.

Ukraine’s SBU said the group’s leader was based in the Dnipropetrovsk region and passed information to a Russian handler, while agents worked in five regions.

The SBU published photos of four detained men with their faces obscured. If convicted, they face between eight years and life in prison.

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