Ukraine's SBU security service said Tuesday that it had uncovered a network of agents working for Russian military intelligence who tried to find where Ukraine keeps its Western-supplied F-16 jets.
Kyiv received its first F-16 fighter jets in August after asking its Western allies for months to send the aircraft to help intercept Russian missiles. Their location is a tightly kept secret.
The SBU said it "neutralized a large-scale agent network" of 12 agents and their informants, who "tried to identify the locations of secret military airfields where, according to the Russians, F-16 aircraft might be based."
The agents were also said to have carried out reconnaissance operations on the firing positions of Ukraine's air defense systems and tried to find companies producing electronic warfare equipment to counter drones.
Ukraine's SBU said the group's leader was based in the Dnipropetrovsk region and passed information to a Russian handler, while agents were working in five regions.
The SBU published images of four detained men with their faces blurred. If convicted, they face between eight years and life in prison.
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