Ukrainian ex-police officer jailed 15 years for helping Russia

A court in Ukraine on Monday sentenced a former police officer to 15 years in prison for disclosing the location of the country’s air defence units to Russia.

The ex-policeman’s offence attracts treasonable charges under Ukrainian law.

Kyiv has opened thousands of probes against Ukrainians suspected of collaborating with Russian forces since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Prosecutors said the resident of the industrial Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow claims is part of Russia, had communicated the positions of air defence units to a former classmate, now in the Russian military.

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“The man travelled around the city of Zaporizhzhia and its outskirts to establish the locations of air defence positions, personnel, and defence forces’ equipment,” the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said in a statement.

The prosecutors added that the man also gathered information on the locations of defence industry facilities in the region.

Zaporizhzhia which had a population of about 700,000 in 2022 has come under persistent Russian aerial attacks since the invasion.

Ukraine has encouraged its Western allies to bolster its air defence systems to thwart Russian attacks on energy and other critical infrastructures.

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