Russia's war in Ukraine: Kyiv allegedly exposes Russian spy in Ukrainian general staff

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Kremlin in Moscow (late January)

Photo: Bai Xueqi / dpa

According to their own account, the Ukrainian security authorities have unmasked a ring of Russian agents.

One of the spies even worked in the Ukrainian general staff, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyj's adviser Oleksiy Arestovych on Monday night, according to the Ukrinform agency.

He did not provide any information about the exact number of members of the spy ring.

The statements from Kyiv cannot be independently verified.

However, Arestovych named one of their alleged goals.

"These comrades should shoot down a passenger plane over Russia or Belarus and then blame Ukraine," he said.

Anti-aircraft missiles from Ukrainian stocks should therefore be used for this action.

It is also still unclear whether foreign secret services - such as the CIA - played a role in the alleged unmasking.

The US intelligence services and the White House are very reluctant to comment on the successes or failures of specific missions.

In principle, however, the US side has made no secret of the fact that it has been massively supporting the Ukrainians with information from its intelligence services for months.

Access in Poland in March

US President Joe Biden recently stated that the Ukrainian government was being provided with important intelligence information in a timely manner.

The aim is to enable the Ukrainians to defend themselves against Russian aggression.

In early March, early in the war, Poland said it had arrested a suspected Russian spy near the border with Ukraine.

It is a Spanish citizen of Russian origin who is said to have worked for the Russian military service GRU.

According to the information, he is said to have had accreditation as a journalist and to have obtained information "whose use by Russian secret services could have a negative impact on Poland's internal and external security and defense capability," it said.

jok/dpa