Anyone who wears Ukrainian epaulets and begins working for the FSB becomes an enemy
In wartime, betrayal wears the face of a trusted colleague. On June 26, 2026, a Kyiv court sentenced Colonel Dmytro Kozyura — once chief of staff of Ukraine's anti-terrorism centre — to life imprisonment for feeding classified military secrets to Russia's FSB, a relationship cultivated since his recruitment in Vienna in 2018. His case is a sobering reminder that the architecture of national security is only as strong as the conscience of those entrusted to uphold it, and that in a nation at war, the enemy may already be inside the room.
- A senior SBU officer with access to Ukraine's most sensitive wartime intelligence was secretly transmitting state secrets — troop movements, weapons systems, casualty figures — to Russian handlers from a Kyiv safehouse using unregistered devices.
- The betrayal ran deep: Kozyura reported the human toll of Russian strikes back to Moscow, potentially helping Russia refine its targeting and exploit vulnerabilities in Ukrainian defenses and leadership.
- Ukrainian intelligence mounted a covert surveillance operation codenamed 'rat,' monitoring Kozyura around the clock before arresting him in February 2025 — a rare case where the watcher became the watched.
- The SBU claims it blunted the damage by feeding Kozyura deliberate disinformation and blocking his access to the most critical intelligence, though the full human cost of his espionage remains impossible to measure.
- The Shevchenkivskyy District Court handed down a life sentence under martial law, with the Prosecutor General declaring that any Ukrainian officer who serves the FSB will face the harshest possible reckoning.
Colonel Dmytro Kozyura had spent years building a career inside Ukraine's Security Service, rising to become chief of staff of its anti-terrorism centre — a role that placed some of the country's most guarded wartime secrets within his reach. What prosecutors revealed in court was that he had been working against Ukraine for years, first recruited by Russia's FSB in Vienna in 2018, and reactivated in late 2024 when his handlers came calling again.
From a Kyiv safehouse, using a phone and router registered to no one, Kozyura answered their requests methodically. He shared classified documents detailing military deployments, weapons systems, infrastructure, and the movements of political and military leaders. He reported back on the aftermath of Russian strikes — wounded soldiers, dead civilians — intelligence that would have flowed through his FSB handler, Yuriy Shatalov, to Moscow.
The SBU was watching throughout. Officers tracked his movements and communications until February 2025, when they moved in under an operation codenamed 'rat.' The agency later claimed it had limited the damage by feeding Kozyura disinformation and restricting his access to the most sensitive material — though the true cost of his espionage, measured in lives and compromised operations, may never be fully known.
On June 26, 2026, the Shevchenkivskyy District Court in Kyiv found him guilty of high treason under martial law and sentenced him to life in prison. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko was unsparing: anyone who wears Ukrainian insignia and serves the FSB is an enemy of Ukraine, and only the harshest punishment is fitting. Kozyura's conviction stands as one of the most prominent to emerge from Ukraine's ongoing effort to root out Russian agents — a stark warning that in this war, the threat does not only come from across the border.
Colonel Dmytro Kozyura sat in a Kyiv safehouse with a phone and router that were not registered to his name, sending messages to handlers in Russia. He was a career officer in Ukraine's Security Service—the SBU—and had spent years climbing its ranks until he became chief of staff of the anti-terrorism centre, a position that gave him access to some of the country's most sensitive secrets. But in December 2024, after years of silence, his Russian handlers came calling again, and Kozyura answered.
The FSB had first recruited him in Vienna in 2018, planting a seed that would lie dormant for years. When contact resumed late last year, the requests began in earnest: details about how Ukraine's military was deploying and moving its forces, information about the weapons systems at the country's disposal, the state of its infrastructure, the names and movements of political and military leaders. Kozyura, prosecutors say, agreed to provide all of it. He was paid for his work. He was systematic about it. He shared documents marked "secret." He reported on the aftermath of Russian strikes—the number of wounded soldiers, the number of dead civilians—feeding that intelligence back across the border.
The SBU was watching. Officers monitored him around the clock, tracking his movements, observing his communications from the safehouse, noting the separate mobile phone and Wi-Fi router he used to stay hidden. In February 2025, they moved in and arrested him. The operation that caught him had been codenamed "rat."
On June 26, 2026, the Shevchenkivskyy District Court in Kyiv found Kozyura guilty of high treason under martial law and sentenced him to life in prison. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko issued a statement that left no room for ambiguity: "Anyone who wears Ukrainian epaulets and begins working for the FSB becomes an enemy of Ukraine. Only the harshest punishment is appropriate for such individuals." The court also convicted him of illegal handling of weapons, ammunition, and explosives.
Kozyura's FSB handler in Russia was identified as Yuriy Shatalov, a man whose job was to coordinate a network of agents working inside Ukraine. The intelligence he gathered from Kozyura would have flowed through Shatalov to Moscow, where it would have been used to refine Russian military strategy, to target Ukrainian positions more effectively, to understand the vulnerabilities in Ukraine's defenses and leadership.
Yet the SBU claims it managed to limit the damage. According to the agency's account, even as Kozyura was passing secrets to the Russians, Ukrainian intelligence officers were feeding him disinformation—false information designed to mislead Moscow about Ukrainian capabilities and intentions. At the same time, they say, they prevented him from accessing the most critical intelligence. Whether that mitigation was complete, whether lives were saved by it or lost despite it, remains unclear. What is certain is that a man with access to state secrets, a man responsible for coordinating Ukraine's fight against terrorism, had chosen to work for the enemy. And now he will spend the rest of his life in a Ukrainian prison for it.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Ukraine has announced numerous operations to expose and arrest Russian agents operating on its soil. Kozyura's case is one of the highest-profile convictions to emerge from that effort—a stark reminder that the threat to Ukrainian security comes not only from across the border, but from within.
Citas Notables
The colonel, a career officer in the SBU, had access to state secrets and was responsible for coordinating the fight against terrorism.— Office of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko
Only the harshest punishment is appropriate for such individuals.— Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
How does someone like Kozyura—a career officer, trusted with secrets—end up working for the FSB?
The recruitment happened in Vienna in 2018, years before the full-scale war. He was approached, assessed, and turned. Then they waited. For years, nothing. Then in December 2024, they reactivated him. By then the war was already grinding on. He was already embedded deep in the system.
Why did it take so long for Russian handlers to contact him again?
That's the pattern with deep-cover agents. You plant them, you leave them dormant, you let them rise through the ranks and build trust. Then when you need them, you activate. Kozyura had become more valuable over time—he'd moved into a position where he could see the whole anti-terrorism apparatus.
The SBU says they fed him disinformation while he was spying. How do you even do that?
You let him steal things. Real documents, real information—but carefully curated. You make sure the truly critical intelligence stays out of his reach. Meanwhile, you're watching every move, every message. You're learning who his handlers are, what they're asking for, what Moscow cares about.
So in a way, Kozyura became a tool for Ukraine too?
That's one way to read it. But he was still a traitor. He still chose to take money for secrets. The SBU's damage control doesn't erase what he did—it just means they caught him before he could do more.
What happens to the network now that Kozyura is arrested?
Shatalov, his handler in Moscow, knows the operation is compromised. The FSB will likely pull back, reassess, try to figure out what Ukraine learned. But there are probably other agents still in place. This is one conviction. The war against espionage continues.