Ukrainian teenagers for Russian sabotage: law enforcement detains more than 700 people in countering FSB plans - FT

Russian special services focus on teenagers who have financial difficulties or simply "want to earn enough money for a new iPhone." Russian agents try to involve representatives of these categories in various tasks, including photographing the positions of Ukrainian troops.

UNN reports with reference to Financial Times.

Details

FSB agents are trying to train spies and saboteurs from some Ukrainian teenagers, offering "tasks" and money via messengers

SBU spokesman Artem Dekhtiarenko told FT that since last spring, the agency has arrested more than 700 people involved in espionage, arson, and bomb plots organized remotely by Russian intelligence agents. Of these, about 175 – or about 25 percent – were under 18 years old.

Minors cannot predict the consequences of their actions," which makes them especially vulnerable to Russian recruitment

The consequences have been serious, even fatal. According to him, the Russian campaign "started last spring with the arson of wagons [and] electrical nodes along the railway." Then they "improved their strategy and started burning down recruitment centers." In early 2025, according to the SBU spokesman, Russian special services "switched to using Ukrainians as suicide bombers."

Tools in social networks

As of the end of May, about 50 Ukrainian minors reported attempted bribery via messengers, according to the Ukrainian juvenile police, which is involved in the information campaign.

Recruitment channels operate according to a similar scheme: an anonymous user addresses young people via Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, or Viber with attractive offers of quick and easy money.

Operators provide coordinates and instructions, ranging from photographing military facilities or air defense systems to planting explosive devices or carrying out arsons of energy infrastructure and recruitment points.

Promised payments range from $100 to $1000

The problem is serious, so the Ukrainian authorities have launched a nationwide information campaign. For prevention purposes, materials are distributed in mass text messages, as well as on billboards along highways, and in passenger transport on repeat.

To prevent sabotage attempts, videos are distributed aimed at raising teenagers' awareness. The goal is to teach teenagers "how not to fall into a trap and be one step ahead" of the FSB.

SBU agents were also invited to schools to teach children how to recognize Russian attempts to manipulate them. The campaign slogan is aimed at turning the script against Moscow: "Don't burn your own! Burn the enemy!"

Recall

The police and the SBU exposed a group of teenagers aged 15-16 who were collecting intelligence information for the FSB through a Telegram channel. The participants were detained while photographing air defense facilities; one of them faces life imprisonment.

The National Police observe a decrease in the involvement of children in recruitment by Russians. Almost 50 children have contacted the National Police reporting that unknown individuals from fake accounts contacted them via messengers and social networks, agitating them to commit arsons of military vehicles, buildings of state bodies and local authorities, etc.