Kyiv
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Shortly after noon on July 19, 2024, 19-year-old Hristina Galkavenko, the daughter of a priest, arrived at her church in Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine. She was devout, but she wasn’t there to pray.
A young woman, who was familiar with the building because her father worked there, went upstairs and entered one of the rooms. So she set up a cell phone as a live streaming camera in a blinded window, pointing it at the road used by Ukrainian troops and vehicles traveling to and from the eastern front. The feed was sent directly to Russian intelligence.
According to Ukrainian prosecutors, this was not the only work Mr. Galkavenko carried out for Russia’s main intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB). Throughout the year, she exchanged messages with FSB officials, relaying information on the location of Ukrainian military personnel and equipment in the strategic location of Pokrovsk.
“I wanted to talk to this guy more, and I agreed to help him just because I wanted to talk,” Galkavenko, who is serving a 15-year sentence for treason, told CNN in a rare phone interview from prison.
She declined to tell CNN whether she had romantic feelings for the agent. However, Pavlo Urovetsky, head of the Donetsk District Prosecutor’s Office, said: “In addition to her active pro-Russian stance, the young woman had established a relationship with the person that was more than friendly.”
Mr. Galkavenko is one of thousands of Ukrainians believed to have been recruited by the FSB and other Russian intelligence agencies to spy on their country. According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, investigative authorities have opened more than 3,800 treason investigations, and more than 1,200 people have already been convicted and sentenced. Those convicted face an average of 12 to 13 years in prison, although some have been sentenced to life in prison.
CNN has contacted the FSB for comment.
Andriy Yakovliev, a lawyer and expert in international humanitarian and criminal law with the Media Initiative for Human Rights, a Ukrainian NGO, told CNN that Ukraine has ensured that conditions for fair trials are in place and that the country’s courts generally respect due process. He added that prosecutors tend to go to court only when there is sufficient evidence and “don’t call a white person a black person” to get a conviction.
“Providing information to Russian intelligence is the most common act of treason during wartime,” Ivan Kisilevich, director of the Prosecutor General’s Office, told CNN.
According to the SBU, the scope of the tasks carried out on behalf of the FSB is so wide that geography is not an issue due to its proximity to combat.
“In frontline areas, agents who collect and transmit information on the movements and positions of the Ukrainian armed forces are increasingly detained,” the SBU said in a statement. “In western and central Ukraine, Russian operatives are increasingly collecting and leaking information about military installations and critical infrastructure, and attempting sabotage near thermal power plants, police buildings, and railway lines.”
Defense Ministry adviser Serhiy Beskhrestnov warned this week that Russian operatives are recruiting Ukrainians to register Starlink satellite internet terminals so they can be used by the Russian military after the country’s unauthorized systems were blocked. He said the Russian side is offering $300 to any Ukrainian who wants it.
The profiles of Ukrainians recruited by Russia are diverse. Some groups are ideologically motivated, but intelligence officials say these groups are shrinking. For the majority, money is the main motivation.
According to the SBU, Russian agents primarily recruit people who are in financial trouble, such as the unemployed, and people with various addictions, including drugs, alcohol, and gambling.
“It’s important to understand that we’re not talking about thousands of dollars,” Kisilevich said. “For most people, it’s a few hundred dollars or some other material gain. For traitors, it’s easy money. They just take money on a card and don’t think about where or who it came from.”
Andrii, the SBU’s counterintelligence officer, told CNN that the Telegram channel is currently one of the most popular recruitment tools. CNN is not using his last name due to the nature of his work.
“Russians post ads that allow them to earn money quickly and easily. Then they gradually assign tasks. At first, they are very primitive, such as buying coffee, taking a photo of the receipt in a cafe. For this, funds are transferred to a bank card and the recruitment process begins gradually,” he explained. “Then more sensitive work comes along, like setting up cameras along railroad tracks or photographing military installations.”
If the person refuses to cooperate at some point, the recruiter will resort to blackmail, threatening to hand over the communications to the SBU, Andriy said. “At that point, people can’t go back,” he explained.
Galkavenko said the contact began as a chance acquaintance through Telegram. “At first it was a normal self-introduction, a casual conversation. Then he introduced himself as an agent of the Russian Federation and offered to cooperate,” said a woman from a penal colony who was convicted of crimes against national security and treason.
Galkavenko said he considered quitting at one point. “I had my doubts and at some point I wanted to quit, and I told him that several times. But he told me everything would be fine, that they would protect me, and that nothing bad would happen. I believed him.”
Although she received compensation from the FSB for her actions, that was not her main motivation, she told CNN.
Almost weekly, the SBU reports new arrests of suspected local collaborators, ranging from civilians to military personnel.
The treason charges identified by the agency involve a wide range of individuals. Among those already convicted is a 50-year-old factory mechanic from Kramatorsk who was employed by the FSB, which sent him the coordinates of Ukrainian military personnel and heavy weapons. The 40-year-old former factory employee from Kramatorsk guided Russian bombs into the region. 21 years old, living in Kyiv. Helped coordinate Russian missile attacks on the capital. A 49-year-old man who works for a delivery service and lives in the Chernivtsi region. The SBU said the employee worked “under cover” as a courier and traveled around the region documenting military installations and critical infrastructure facilities.
Urovetsky, head of the Donetsk District Prosecutor’s Office, recalled the “ironic” case of Irina Landuga, a woman who was convicted last year of passing information on Ukrainian military positions to her son, who fought for the Russian army, and receiving financial compensation in return.
“We heard her talking to her son after she gave him the location of the Ukrainian army. Then these places were shelled and she herself (went and checked) to see that there were casualties. She thanked them and was happy, saying, ‘Well done, I love you,'” Urovetskyi said.
According to the court ruling, in August 2023, Landuga, a resident of Krahivka, Donetsk region, was on his way home from the store when he saw Ukrainian soldiers at the house of his son’s godfather and the barracks of the military mine rescue unit. She told her son about this, but then the area came under shelling, killing at least one person. A 59-year-old civilian woman who lived in a nearby building died after being trapped under the rubble, according to court documents. At that time, Godmother was out of town.
In audio provided to CNN by prosecutors, Landuga can be heard saying of the attack: “People died there. Women died… Everything’s fine, everything’s fine. You attacked the barracks? Well done, I love you. Well done. For Godmother’s sake, I kiss your hand… I’m very grateful to the barracks. Now we’ll look at the collateral damage.”
In October 2025, she was sentenced to life in prison after a court found her indifferent to the consequences of her actions.
Mr. Galkavenko was sentenced to 15 years in prison in June after pleading guilty and expressing remorse. Mr Urovetsky said he was pleading because “I want it replaced.”
In an interview with CNN, Galkavenko said he has never been to Russia, but that he has relatives there and would like to live with them.
Kisilevich noted that some Ukrainians have promised to exchange Ukrainian nationals held as prisoners of war by Russia if the situation worsens. For some of those detained, going to Russia is the only preferred option. “But I highly doubt they’ll be any better off going there. I don’t think they’ll arrive there as heroes.”
Ms. Galkavenko’s father, a priest, remains in Ukraine while she waits for a possible exchange. She said he was shocked when he learned of her actions but did not abandon her. “He supported me and told me everything would be okay. He accepted my decision to go for the exchange.”
Andriy, the SBU’s counterintelligence officer, said Russian intelligence doesn’t really care about people recruited from remote locations. “It’s just a consumable item for them.”
He added that there will always be people trying to steal secrets and that for intelligence agents, the hunt for traitors will never stop. “This is a meticulous process of investigating the lives of your collaborators in great detail. Sometimes you find yourself knowing their lives so well that you become a part of it,” he said.
Galkavenko said he made a conscious choice to help Russia but now regrets his actions. “I hurt the people I love and to some extent ruined my own life.”
