Ukraine war briefing: British ex-soldier arrested in Kyiv and accused of spying for Russia
Prosecutors allege man was conducting training for Ukraine’s army when he was recruited by the FSB, Moscow’s spy bureau. What we know on day 1,346
A British ex-army instructor has been arrested in Kyiv and accused of spying for Russia while posing as an adviser to the Ukrainian army. Ukraine has accused the man of passing information to Moscow about other foreign military advisers in Ukraine and the coordinates of army training centres. The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office alleged he arrived in Ukraine in 2024, conducted military training for the army and worked in the border guard before agreeing to collaborate with Moscow.
Ukraine’s state security service, the SBU, alleges the Russian FSB spy bureau gave the man instructions on making explosive devices and also provided him with a handgun and ammunition, while the prosecutor general claimed he “attempted to establish access to the command of military units” in exchange for $6,000. He faces up to 12 years in prison if found guilty. Britain’s Foreign Office told Agence France-Presse that it was “aware of reports that a British national has been detained in Ukraine … We remain in close contact with the Ukrainian authorities.”
Pjotr Sauer writes that Russian commanders are executing or deliberately sending to their deaths soldiers who refuse to fight in Ukraine, according to a new investigation by the award-winning independent outlet Verstka, which paints a bleak picture of internal violence within the Russian army. Verstka cited testimonies from soldiers who said commanders had appointed “execution shooters” to open fire on refusers and later dump their bodies in rivers or shallow graves, registering them as killed in action. Other accounts describe commanders using drones and explosives to “finish off” wounded or retreating soldiers.
Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and other targets, forcing nationwide power restrictions and killing seven people including a seven-year-old girl, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday. Regional officials said two energy facilities in the western Lviv region had been damaged. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said its thermal power stations in a number of regions were under attack. “This attack is a bad blow to our efforts to keep power flowing this winter,” said Maxim Timchenko, DTEK’s CEO.
The Ukraine government announced nationwide limits on electricity supplies to retail and industrial consumers. In some regions, water supplies and heating were also disrupted. The attacks hit energy facilities in central, western, and south-eastern regions, Ukrainian officials said.
Regional officials said two men were killed in the south-eastern industrial city of Zaporizhzhia, and a seven-year-old girl from the central Vinnytsia region died in hospital from her injuries. The regional governor said a later drone strike on a village south of Zaporizhzhia killed one person and injured another.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, said in his nightly video address that a bomb hit a thermal power plant in Sloviansk in eastern Donetsk region, killing two people and injuring others. Prosecutors in Donetsk region said Russian attacks on dwellings in the city of Kramatorsk killed one person and injured three. Zelenskyy said Russia launched more than 650 drones and 50 missiles in the attacks. Most of the drones were neutralised and two-thirds of the missiles were downed, he said. Air defence units shot down 592 drones and 31 missiles, the air force said.
In Sumy, a city near the northern border with Russia, the regional governor said 10 Russian drones attacked the city in an hour early on Friday. Two people were injured when two apartment buildings were hit and pictures posted online showed several apartments ablaze. Air alerts lasted nearly the entire night in Kyiv, where residents took shelter in deep underground metro stations.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had been attacking facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex. Moscow denies targeting civilians and has said its strikes are responses to Ukraine’s attacks on Russian infrastructure; however, Russian missiles and drones frequently, conspicuously and directly hit civilian homes and facilities. Ukraine has launched regular drone attacks on military and oil sites that it says support the war.
“[Russia’s] goal is to plunge Ukraine into darkness. Ours is to preserve the light,” said the Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko. “To stop the terror, we need more air defence systems, tougher sanctions, and maximum pressure on the aggressor.” Continue reading...
