Germany arrests Ukrainian suspected of spying for Russia

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Germany arrests Ukrainian suspected of spying for Russia euronews.com

German federal prosecutors have arrested a Ukrainian national in Brandenburg on suspicion of spying for Russia. The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe said the suspect, identified as Vadym Y., had been in contact with a Russian intelligence service through an intermediary since at least July 2025, and allegedly obtained militarily relevant information from inside Germany.

The material prosecutors say he gathered includes details on the production of armoured vehicles, ammunition and explosives, as well as information on personnel and military facilities at sites used to secure NATO's eastern flank. Some of the information was publicly accessible; the rest, prosecutors say, was collected by approaching individuals working in the European defence industry. The investigation continues, and the presumption of innocence applies.

The case fits a pattern German security authorities describe with increasing alarm. In April, a man was arrested in Berlin on suspicion of passing information on Germany's military support for Ukraine, defence companies and military convoys to a Russian intelligence service, with potential sabotage targets also said to be involved. In a separate case made public in October, a 53-year-old Ukrainian from Attendorn in North Rhine-Westphalia was charged with monitoring another Ukrainian in a refugee shelter on behalf of the Russian domestic intelligence service, the FSB, passing details of that person's contacts via Telegram.

Both the alleged watchers and the alleged targets in these cases are Ukrainians — people displaced by a war that Russian services appear content to continue waging on German soil, among refugees Germany shelters and against a Kyiv government whose security services have no reach into Brandenburg or Attendorn.