Invasion clues ignored: Ukrainian defectors should support Putin's spies in taking Kyiv

Created: 08/08/2022, 21:15

By: Marcus Giebel

Vladimir Putin, Russian President.

(Archive image) © Maxim Shemetov/dpa

The main goal for Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine war was to overthrow the government in Kyiv.

His secret services apparently hired defectors from Ukraine to do this.

Munich - In the Ukraine war, many things are not going according to plan for the Kremlin.

In the past five and a half months, Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops have suffered a number of setbacks - far more than they ever thought possible.

This began in the first days of the invasion with the failed capture of Kyiv.

There are many indications that Putin wanted to see his followers in the center of the capital within a few hours in order to arrest Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government members there and install Kremlin-loyal successors.

But after weeks of an unsuccessful siege, the Russian troops withdrew in the spring and have been concentrating on the east and south of the country ever since.

Putin and the attack on Kyiv: Russian agents apparently moved into apartments a year earlier

Selenskyj and Co. pulled their heads out of the noose again - which probably not even many allies would have thought possible in February.

The question arises: were the Russian attackers overestimated or the Ukrainian defenses underestimated?

Now, in an article,

reveals how Putin's spies worked to infiltrate Kiev's level of government.

The Kremlin chief's secret agents moved into apartments in the city at least a year in advance.

The case of a young woman is mentioned who, according to the neighbor, was “anything but talkative”, stood in front of the door with a packed bag a few days after the start of the Russian invasion and asked to take care of her cat.

Video: Selenskyj receives Hollywood star Chastain

Putin and the planned overthrow of Zelenskyy: Two Ukrainian defectors are said to have helped the FSB

The article is based on an internal paper from the state Ukrainian transmission agency DBR as a photographed file.

The sabotage ring was led by three employees of the Russian secret service FSB from Moscow - two men and a woman.

The lady was also an accredited freelance photographer for the Russian press agency Tass.

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They have received support from the Ukrainian side since 2019 from Volodymyr Sivkovych, a former member of parliament and deputy head of the National Security Council from 2010 to 2013, and from Oleg Kulinich, who was most recently deputy head of the department of the Ukrainian secret service SBU, which is responsible for responsible for operations in the Crimean Peninsula.

Kulinich was arrested in mid-July and could be sentenced to life imprisonment for high treason.

Sivkovych, on the other hand, is said to have fled to Russia.

Putin and the Ukraine war: Selenskyj dismisses his head of the secret service

The

article also points out that Ukraine is definitely a burned child when it comes to double spies.

According to SBU estimates, at the time of the fall of the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, half of the employees worked for the FSB at least in individual cases.

The situation is said to have improved.

But in the occupied Cherson region in southern Ukraine alone, 60 SBU employees switched sides when the Russians invaded.

Probably one of the reasons why Zelenskyj released his confidante and SBU boss Ivan Bakanov from his duties last month.

Was the head of the Ukrainian secret service SBU for almost two years: Ivan Bakanov was relieved of his duties in July 2022.

© IMAGO / Ukrinform

Putin's FSB is looking for Ukrainian allies: SBU officer in charge of Crimea is said to have ignored reference to invasion

According to reports, defector Kulinich was informed on February 24 at 1:03 am by SBU people stationed in Crimea about the imminent invasion, which would start at 4 am.

According to the investigation file, he read the message at 1:11 a.m. but did not forward it.

It is also said that the SBU man who was apparently recruited by the FSB had previously received instructions to stop the flow of information.

In addition, he was informed much earlier about the imminent invasion of Russian troops - without knowing the exact time.

Because of his misconduct, he had already been released on March 2, less than a week after the start of the war.

The Russian military is said to have been given information from the SBU about the exact plans of minefields along the internal border with Crimea.

However, this was not listed in the DBR letter.

Putin's intelligence work: FSB man should be smuggled into SBU personnel department

In the course of the spy ring, Putin apparently also wanted to "bring the SBU back permanently to Russian line and make it steerable".

Kulinich is said to have worked on accommodating a person of trust from the FSB in the SBU human resources department so that strategically important positions could be filled according to Russia's ideas and unwelcome SBU employees could lose their jobs.

Intercepted conversations suggest that Sivkovych and Kulinich could be targeting some deputies of the SBU boss Bakanov, who has since been fired.

In some cases, the names should also have been mentioned.

The President and his head of the secret service: The wires between Vladimir Putin (left) and Alexander Bortnikov (right) are likely to have glowed in recent months.

© IMAGO / ITAR-TASS

Putin's search for Zelenskyy: Kyiv difficult to take due to topography

Ultimately, however, their colleagues also found out.

Not the only defeat.

According to the article, the fact that the FSB was unable to initiate the Kiev case despite this obviously professional preparation may also have something to do with the topography.

An estimated seven million people would crowd into an area of ​​839 square kilometers.

In addition to dense residential areas, industrial zones, wastelands, multi-lane roads, forests, parks, slopes, gorges and the Dnieper River would make concentrated actions difficult.

Nevertheless, Zelenskyj remains on guard.

The government district still resembles a fortress, with huge concrete blocks barricading the access roads.

There are further arrests throughout Kyiv in the search for saboteurs.

Because the Ukraine war also showed one thing: Despite all the setbacks, Putin is not going to give up easily.