Ukrainian forces intensify crackdown on russian collaborators

Diversion, sabotage, spreading propaganda—many citizens of Ukraine, especially those of Russian origin, still collaborate with the occupier. Those committing the most serious crimes cannot feel safe even after fleeing to Russia.

The Ukrainian prosecutor's office and security services have created special groups to hunt down Russian agents, saboteurs, and traitors. They primarily target those who inform Russians about troop movements, the location of anti-aircraft systems, and rear depots. Another focus of the services is those spreading pro-Russian propaganda.

Almost daily, the Kharkiv prosecutor's office, which operates a unit against traitors, reports new charges and arrests. However, they do not release the personal information of the arrested individuals. The reason—sympathisers of the Kremlin would regard them as heroes.

While the Russian invasion has solidified the nation and created a sense of unity among Ukrainians, particularly in the eastern part of the country, many Russian-speaking citizens still longingly look to Moscow. They repeat slogans familiar from Russian media. Russia does much to ensure that messages consistent with the dictatorship's line reach Ukrainians. As Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained, "Not everyone understands, and it must be patiently explained to them."

Therefore, information about the "Kyiv junta," the coup, and rigged elections is repeated like a mantra. In short, anything that could fuel animosity between Donbas and the rest of Ukraine.

During trips to Ukraine, many of my pro-Russian interlocutors repeated RIA Novosti's claims that Ukrainians bomb apartment blocks and schools to blame the Russians. The Russian inscriptions on the missiles are supposedly fabricated by Ukrainian propaganda, while in fact, "Kyiv fascists" blow up the buildings themselves. Meanwhile, the Russian soldiers taken prisoner are supposedly Ukrainian actors. These same actors were also said to play the victims—the message was most intense after the Bucha massacre.

The propaganda is so strong that it reaches far beyond the borders of Russia and Donbas. In Hungary or Serbia, one can often encounter expressions of sympathy for Russians, even after the revelation of more war crimes.

Most of the people identified as those who chose to collaborate with the Russians are involved in small-scale sabotage and spreading Russian propaganda. At the beginning of September, the Kharkiv regional prosecutor's office issued warrants for two women who had begun cooperating with the occupier back in 2022. They held propaganda meetings, distributed leaflets, claimed that "Russia is here forever, and Ukraine as a country no longer exists," and that "Poland wants to reclaim its eastern territories." When Ukrainians recaptured the area where they were active in September 2022, both women fled to the Russian Federation.

One collaborator, who headed the finance department of the Russian administration in Kupiansk during the city's occupation, was not so lucky. She was arrested in 2023 for her cooperation with the Russians.

On 5 September 2023, a 51-year-old woman was arrested for working as the head of the postal service department during the occupation of Izium. She voluntarily took the position of "head of the postal communication department." During this time, she organised the distribution of propaganda newspapers through her subordinate postmen. They delivered newspapers from Russia, which were meant to mimic local press purportedly issued by local journalists—"Izium Telegraph" and "Kharkiv Z."

This pro-Kremlin press featured narratives about "liberating Ukraine from Nazis and fascists." The newspapers explained that the Russians had come to Ukraine "to liberate the people from the tyranny of the Kyiv regime." The woman was detained temporarily for two months.

In late August, two men were arrested in Kyiv for installing cameras on several buildings that transmitted real-time footage to Russia. This helped record the effects of air raids on the city and identify the positions of anti-aircraft defences.

A man in Pokrovsk operated similarly, but instead of installing cameras on buildings, he installed them on roadside trees. Thanks to him, the Russians could monitor the movements of Ukrainian convoys. He has already been sentenced to 13 years in prison.

A Russian who had lived in Ukraine for years also carried out espionage tasks. A retired major of the Russian Aerospace Forces and a former reconnaissance pilot of Su-24s, according to the services, "gathered information about the location of Ukrainian defenders and military equipment, then sent the collected information via SMS and photos with the appropriate geolocation marks." The whereabouts of this retiree will be known for the next five years—prison. Importantly, both men worked for the idea free of charge.

Similarly, the men caught by the police at the beginning of August while puncturing the tyres of military trucks. It turned out that they had been destroying Ukrainian equipment this way for several months. Both face up to 10 years in prison.

Representatives of the authorities showed a significantly higher level of treason. On 3 September, charges were filed against Oleksandr Ponomariov, a deputy in the Ukrainian Parliament from the banned political party Opposition Platform—for Life, and his former assistant. Both are accused of financing activities aimed at overthrowing the constitutional order, seizing state power, and changing the boundaries of Ukrainian territory and state border.

The situation was even worse for former Kupiansk Mayor Hennadiy Matsegora, who sabotaged the city's defence in February 2022, and after the entry of Russian forces, handed over all the supplies the city had available within Civil Defence. He moved to Russia in July 2022, where he became the director of a sports centre in Stary Oskol. On 8 June 2023, agents of the Main Intelligence Directorate carried out an assassination attempt on Matsegora. He died from his injuries three days later in a Moscow hospital.

This is not the first such case. In 2022, Ukrainian intelligence eliminated Lt. Col. Andrii Bezliudko. The officer was born in Cherkasy, central Ukraine, where Russian influence is much smaller than in Donbas. In 2014, however, he refused to fight against Russian militants near Donetsk and joined the enemy.

In Russia, he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and became the deputy commander of the elite 70th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, with which he entered Ukraine. Near Donetsk, he initially worked at the regiment headquarters, and after further failures, he moved to the front as the commander of a battalion tactical group. In a laconic statement, the Ukrainians announced, "the traitor of Ukraine has been eliminated."