A Polish citizen has been arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia, the Polish Prosecutor's Office announced on June 11.

According to prosecutors, 28-year-old Wiktor Z. was detained on June 4 by Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) on charges of gathering and passing sensitive information to Russia's intelligence services. The arrest followed searches of several properties in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian region in northern Poland, authorities said.

Warsaw has intensified its crackdown on Russian intelligence activity following a number of sabotage attacks allegedly directed by Moscow. Several suspected spy networks, allegedly run by Minsk and Moscow, have been uncovered in Poland over the past years.

Prosecutors said Wiktor Z. is suspected of offering to cooperate with Russian intelligence and engaging in espionage between February 2024 and April 2025 in the city of Bydgoszcz and abroad. He allegedly collected data about infrastructure critical to Poland's defense, the disclosure of which could pose a serious threat to national security.

The suspect acted "out of ideological and pro-Russian convictions," the Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. Wiktor Z. has been placed in pretrial detention for three months. If convicted, he faces a minimum of eight years in prison or up to a life sentence.

In May, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced the closure of the Russian consulate in Krakow after accusing Russian intelligence of orchestrating a 2024 arson attack that destroyed the Marywilska shopping center in Warsaw.

Polish officials, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Justice Minister Adam Bodnar, have blamed the Kremlin for directing the sabotage, citing detailed intelligence. Multiple individuals have been arrested in connection with the fire, which burned down a complex housing over 1,400 stores.

Authorities in Lithuania have also linked Russia's intelligence services to similar sabotage incidents, including an arson attack on an IKEA warehouse in Vilnius, causing over half a million euros in damages. Polish and Lithuanian officials are reportedly cooperating on the investigations.

Russia has denied involvement and condemned Poland's move to shut down its diplomatic post, warning of retaliation.

Western officials have warned of a growing Russian sabotage campaign across Europe targeting states that support Ukraine amid Moscow's ongoing invasion.

From spy rings to arson — Russia’s sabotage across Europe continues unpunished

Alongside Russia launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has also ramped up its hybrid attacks across Europe. In 2024 alone, Russia could be behind around 100 “suspicious incidents” in Europe, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky claimed. Last month, the Dutch intelligence said that Moscow keeps stepping up its attacks

The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Denisova

This is no accident. This is a war crime. Russia is waging a deliberate war on Ukrainian rescuers, striking six fire stations in one week, says Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. 

The Ukrainian minister has accused Russia of deliberately targeting emergency services, calling recent attacks on fire and rescue units a campaign of “deliberate terror.” Over just one week, six fire stations across Ukraine were hit, injuring 12 emergency workers who risk their lives daily under fire.

“Even after the strikes, our rescuers put their uniforms back on and headed to where someone may still be breathing beneath the rubble,” Klymenko says.

From 26 May to 2 June, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service came under fire nearly ten times. Fire-rescue units were hit in Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, and Kharkiv oblasts. The attacks damaged six fire stations and destroyed six emergency vehicles.

One of the most brazen strikes, according to Klymenko, occurred on the morning of 2 June in Stepnohirsk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. After drones struck a fire station, Russian forces launched a second strike targeting rescuers evacuating the wounded.

Twelve emergency personnel were injured, and two vehicles were destroyed in the attack. The wounded are now receiving medical and psychological care.

The family of late Andriy Portnov, a former top aide to ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, acquired more than $2 million worth of real estate in Dubai during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an investigative report by Schemes, a project by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has revealed on June 2.

According to property records leaked from Dubai's Land Department and state-owned utilities, verified in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Le Monde, six properties were purchased in 2022–2023 by Portnov's civil partner, Anastasiia Valiaieva, and his daughter, Liliia Portnova. As of mid-2025, five of the properties remain under their ownership.

The first known purchase was made by Portnova in October 2022, when she bought a 69-square-meter apartment in Sobha Hartland One Park Avenue for around $320,000.

Property acquisitions reportedly accelerated in mid-2023, with Portnova and Valiaieva investing in multiple new developments, including Sobha Hartland Waves Opulence and Creek Vista Heights, spending between $132,000 and $600,000 per unit.

One property — an apartment in Sobha Hartland Waves Opulence valued at over $600,000 — is still under construction and slated for completion in September 2025. Another, in Creek Vista Heights, worth more than $550,000, is expected to be completed in 2026.

Despite owning these high-end assets, Schemes found no public records indicating current business activity for either woman. Valiaieva previously owned a company called Vasilisa Group, formerly known as Portnov Group and linked to Portnov himself, but he ceased to be listed as its owner in 2020.

Journalists were also able to confirm that Valiaieva has held Russian citizenship since 2014 and that Portnova is a Swiss national.

In April 2024, Portnov transferred ownership of a luxury estate outside Kyiv to his children through a notarized deed of gift. The document, obtained by Schemes, shows that the transaction was conducted by Valiaieva on behalf of their children.

A Ukrainian notary certified the deed, while a lawyer who previously represented Portnov in court, Marina Parinova, acted on his behalf using a power of attorney notarized in Madrid.

Neither Portnova nor Valiaieva responded to requests for comment from Schemes, nor did attorneys previously associated with Portnov.

The revelations come around two weeks after Portnov was shot dead in Madrid on May 21.

Ukrainian military intelligence confirmed his death to the Kyiv Independent. Spanish media outlets said Portnov was shot at five times, with at least three bullets striking his head and torso. No arrests have been made.

Portnov, 51, was a central figure in the Yanukovych administration from 2010 to 2014 and was sanctioned by the United States in 2021 over allegations of corruption and judicial manipulation. After fleeing Ukraine following the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, he resided in Russia and Austria, returning to Ukraine in 2019. He fled again in June 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion began.

Known as one of the most litigious ex-officials in Ukraine, Portnov sued several media outlets, including the Kyiv Independent, over reports labeling him "pro-Russian." He won a defamation case in a Kyiv court in 2024.

His influence extended into the media as well: he briefly headed the pro-Russian TV channel NewsOne in 2018. A 2020 UkraineWorld report accused Portnov of using online bots to discredit the EuroMaidan Revolution and Ukraine's pro-European reforms.

Hated, tainted, and covertly pro-Russian — Andriy Portnov, the top Ukrainian ex-official shot dead in Spain

Editor’s Note: In 2023, Andriy Portnov filed a lawsuit against Olga Rudenko, the chief editor of the Kyiv Independent, over an article in which he was referenced as being “pro-Russian.” A Kyiv court ruled in Portnov’s favor in September 2024. In April 2025, an appeal court upheld the ruling. Rudenko

The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov

Russian intelligence services are actively attempting to recruit Ukrainian nationals for illegal operations across the European Union, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) said on June 2.

In a statement, the agency warned that Kremlin-linked operatives are offering money to vulnerable Ukrainians, particularly those from Russian-occupied territories, to conduct surveillance of critical infrastructure and carry out other tasks for the benefit of the Russian state.

"The recruitment of Ukrainians for hostile operations in Europe is yet another tool of hybrid aggression that the Russian Federation is waging against Ukraine and the entire European community," the agency said.

The intelligence agency urged Ukrainian citizens abroad to immediately report any contact with suspicious individuals to local law enforcement or Ukrainian diplomatic missions.

The warning comes amid a growing number of suspected Russian-directed sabotage and arson plots across Europe involving Ukrainian nationals.

British security officials are currently investigating possible Russian involvement in a series of arson attacks targeting properties linked to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Financial Times reported on May 23. The incidents include fires at Starmer's family home, a vehicle, and a former residence in London earlier this month.

Three men — Ukrainian nationals Roman Lavrynovych and Petro Pochynok, and Romanian Stanislav Carpiuc — have been charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. Prosecutors allege they acted in coordination with unknown individuals, and U.K. authorities are examining whether Russian agents may have recruited them.

German authorities have also accused three Ukrainian nationals of being involved in a Russian-orchestrated parcel bomb plot, according to Der Spiegel. The suspects were arrested in May during coordinated raids in Germany and Switzerland.

In a separate case on May 12, Poland charged two Ukrainians in connection with suspected Russian-backed arson attacks at an IKEA store in Vilnius and a shopping mall in Warsaw in 2024.

Additionally, Russian intelligence is believed to be behind a July 2024 fire at a DHL airport logistics hub in Leipzig, Germany. Investigators said a flammable package sent from Lithuania was marked for delivery to a fake address in Birmingham, U.K.

Western officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of using covert sabotage, cyberattacks, and disinformation as part of its broader campaign to destabilize European nations that support Ukraine during the Russian large-scale war.

The Ukrainian intelligence agency emphasized that such operations rely on exploiting desperate individuals and weaponizing them against host countries. It called on European governments to remain vigilant and closely coordinate with Ukrainian security services.

As Trump fails to sanction Moscow, few expect breakthrough during upcoming Russia-Ukraine talks

As Ukraine and Russia prepare for peace talks scheduled for June 2 in Istanbul, few observers expect a breakthrough. While the U.S. and Ukraine have pushed for an unconditional ceasefire, the Kremlin has rejected it. Instead, Moscow has regularly voiced maximalist demands that are unlikely to be accepted by

The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov