Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) announced on its Telegram channel on Wednesday, Oct. 30 that it had arrested a 72-year-old Kharkiv based engineer who is suspected of assisting Russia to improve its kamikaze drone technology.
According to SBU investigators the mechanical engineer and one of his assistants who had been working on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development had passed technical information intended to improve the Shahed-type drones that Russia has assembled and used extensively against Ukraine since the 2022 full-scale invasion.
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This is said to have included designs focused on upgrading the engines and catapult launch systems that are key components in the deployment of the drones.
The SBU investigation exposed how the engineer had been transferring his designs to the general director of a Russian machine-building factory that was involved in producing components for the Shahed drones, which Russia calls as the “Geran-2.”
He had allegedly been disguising his collaboration with Russia as legitimate UAV academic research and had passed the information through email and popular messaging platforms.
The passage of information was aided by a former student who fled to Russia at the start of the full-scale war where he now works on UAVs for Russian military use at the Moscow University of Technology.
During a search of the engineer’s home in Kharkiv, SBU agents confiscated computer equipment, a mobile phone, and flash drives which they said contained evidence of his illegal activities. The SBU post said the unnamed man had been formally charged for assisting an aggressor state contrary to Article 111-2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code. If convicted, he faces up to 12 years in prison along with confiscation of property.
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The SBU has also moved to bring charges in absentia against the engineer’s accomplice who is a former student of Kharkiv University.
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