Russia has built a secret EU network to supply Ukrainian SIM cards for its kamikaze drones. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has recently apprehended FSB agents who organized a large-scale operation to supply Ukrainian SIM cards to Russian combat drones through European Union countries.

Kremlin uses the EU as a war platform

Agents purchased Ukrainian SIM cards and routed them via the EU to Naberezhnye Chelny and Yelabuga in Tatarstan, the largest drone manufacturing hub in Russia. The SBU is conducting investigations to hold all network participants accountable within EU territory.

Internal agents and recruitment

Russian operatives recruited residents from Kyiv Oblast, including a former law enforcement officer, as well as employees of Ukrainian mobile operators, to collect intelligence “from within.”

This allowed the occupiers to improve communication and navigation for their combat drones.

SBU documents and stops FSB activity

During raids, authorities seized smartphones containing evidence of contacts with FSB handlers and foreign accomplices, as well as SIM cards prepared for shipment to Russia. The detainees face charges of high treason under martial law, carrying potential life imprisonment and property confiscation.

The operation was carried out by SBU officers in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast with support from the Internal Security Department of the National Police and the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office.

A Ukrainian Armed Forces major has been convicted of high treason and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with property confiscation for collaborating with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

The Lviv Railway Court verdict doesn’t name the convicted officer, but Zaxid.net identified him as Major Yuriy Lavryk. His case matches the July announcement from Ukraine’s Security Service and Prosecutor General’s Office about capturing an FSB operative embedded in the Ukrainian Air Force.

Lavryk filmed Ukrainian military positions from inside his own base in western Lviv and handed the videos to Russian intelligence, according to the court documents. This information could further be used for drone or missile strikes on Ukraine.

Recruited through his wife who sided with occupiers

The recruitment came through family. Lavryk’s ex-wife lived in Melitopol, southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast, when Russia invaded in February 2022. She sided with the occupiers and agreed to work with them. Russian FSB operatives used her as their bridge to Lavryk.

From his position at the Lviv military unit, Lavryk recorded personnel locations and equipment deployments. Each video went to his former spouse, who passed the intelligence to her Russian handlers.

Buys phone cards to build Russian spy communication inside Ukraine

But Lavryk’s work extended beyond gathering military secrets. He purchased multiple Ukrainian mobile phone starter packs, activated them in Lviv, then provided the numbers to FSB operatives through his ex-wife. The phones gave Russian intelligence a communication network inside Ukraine.

Investigators found more than espionage equipment when they searched Lavryk’s Lviv residence. He had stored a Kalashnikov AKS-74U assault rifle and 30 rounds of ammunition—illegal weapons that added another charge to his conviction.

Lavryk admitted his guilt under three articles of Ukraine’s Criminal Code:

• high treason
• conspiracy
• illegal weapons possession.

The 15-year sentence includes complete property confiscation.