By Leo Chiu

Copyright kyivpost

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it had arrested two locals from the Kyiv region for allegedly supplying Moscow with SIM cards used to help navigate drones during airstrikes.

The SBU said the two – one of them a former law enforcement officer – were tasked by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to send the SIM cards to Russia via contacts in the EU and also to recruit other spies within Ukraine’s mobile network operators to “obtain intelligence.”

“After receiving instructions from the Russian special services, the suspects first purchased Ukrainian ‘SIM cards’ and then, in order to conceal the route of the package, sent them to their accomplices in the European Union,” the SBU said in a Monday press release.

“From there, mobile cards were sent to the Russian Federation. Namely, to the cities of Naberezhnye Chelny and Yelabuga in Tatarstan, where factories producing combat UAVs are located,” it added.

The SBU did not disclose how the alleged spies were recruited.

An increasing number of downed Russian drones have been found with Ukrainian SIM cards, likely intended to bypass GPS jamming by relying on cellular triangulation for accuracy.

However, the use of mesh modems found on newer Russian drones also suggested that they were used to enable direct communication between drones, creating a network that keeps them linked even if one signal is lost.

The SBU said the suspects were caught red-handed with smartphones containing evidence of communications with their FSB handlers and EU-based accomplices, along with an unspecified number of SIM cards.

They have been charged with high treason and face life imprisonment with property confiscation if convicted.

The SBU added that investigations into their accomplices in the EU are ongoing.