Ukraine dismantles Russian spy ring targeting F-16 bases

Ukraine’s Security Service dismantled a Russian military intelligence spy network of 14 people who had been photographing Ukrainian airbases housing F-16 and Mirage 2000 fighter jets, the agency said.

The network operated across several Ukrainian regions and fed Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, with photos of aircraft, their crews, ground personnel, and the timing of takeoffs and landings, the SBU said. Military counterintelligence conducted the operation under the personal coordination of SBU chief Oleksandr Poklad, working alongside the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

According to the SBU, the network began when the GRU recruited a man from Lviv who administered a Telegram channel about aviation. Russian handlers noticed him after he posted photos of Ukrainian Air Force jets in pro-Kremlin chat groups. The man then recruited 13 of his channel’s subscribers without telling them the real purpose of the work, the SBU said, telling them the photos were for his Telegram channel rather than for Russian intelligence.

Those 13 people lived near air force infrastructure and owned high-quality cameras, according to the SBU. They photographed airfields, military aircraft, flight crews and technical personnel from abandoned buildings or open ground near the bases, then uploaded the images to an online storage account the lead agent had set up in advance. The agent passed the photos to his Russian handler, whose identity the SBU said it has established.

The SBU said the same agent separately obtained flight schedules for combat helicopter takeoffs and landings from a Ukrainian Air Force squadron commander, who provided the information voluntarily.

Oleksandr Poklad, head of the SBU, framed the case as part of a broader counterintelligence effort against Russian recruitment attempts inside Ukraine.

“Countering Russian special services that seek to destabilize the situation in Ukraine from within is one of the SBU’s main priorities today. We are actively strengthening our counterintelligence measures because we understand the enemy continues trying to damage our state’s defense potential and destabilize the Ukrainian rear, having failed to achieve real success on the front. This operation is another example of our systematic work in this area. Everyone who agrees to work in Russia’s interests should understand: the SBU will hold you accountable,” said Poklad.

Searches of the suspects’ homes turned up smartphones and digital cameras containing evidence of the work, along with photographs of Ukrainian air force facilities, the SBU said. Investigators also blocked four Telegram channels and 10 related groups used to distribute the photos and other data about Ukrainian aviation units.

The SBU said it has notified the lead agent, an accomplice, and the squadron commander of suspicion of crimes against Ukraine’s national security. The investigation into the remaining network members is ongoing. Comprehensive measures were carried out by SBU military counterintelligence officers under the procedural guidance of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

Ukraine received its first F-16 jets in August 2024, more than a year after a NATO-led coalition pledged to train Ukrainian pilots and supply the aircraft. Since then, F-16s and French-supplied Mirage 2000 jets have become priority targets for Russian intelligence gathering, and this is not the first network the SBU has broken up targeting the two aircraft types. In July 2025, the SBU arrested a Ukrainian Air Force flight instructor accused of passing coordinates, flight schedules and pilot data on F-16, Mirage 2000 and Su-24 aircraft to Russian intelligence, along with an analytical report advising Russian forces on tactics to bypass Ukrainian air defenses. That officer faced charges under Part 2, Article 111 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, high treason committed under martial law, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Earlier cases followed a similar pattern. In December 2024, the SBU said it dismantled a 12-person network operating across five Ukrainian regions that searched for secret airfields where Russian intelligence believed F-16s might be based, alongside reconnaissance on air defense firing positions. In January 2025, the SBU arrested two men in Poltava Oblast, ages 22 and 21, after catching them photographing an F-16 during takeoff; Russian handlers had recruited them through public transportation and short-term rentals near airfields across multiple regions.