Germany arrests Ukrainian suspected of spying for Russia
Photo: Ukrainian suspected of spying for Russia arrested in Germany (Getty Images)
A Ukrainian citizen has been taken into custody in Germany on suspicion of spying for Russia. He is accused of preparing sabotage attacks against a German manufacturer of military drones supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to Germany’s Prosecutor General and SPIEGEL.
Extradition and arrest of the suspect
German prosecutors said that on May 15, 2026, an investigating judge at Germany’s Federal Court of Justice issued and executed an arrest warrant for Ukrainian citizen Sergey N.
He had originally been detained in the Spanish city of Elda on March 24, 2026, at Germany’s request, and was officially transferred to Germany on May 14.
Federal prosecutors accuse Sergey N. and his alleged accomplice, 45-year-old Romanian citizen Alla S., of conducting espionage activities on behalf of Moscow. The Romanian woman had previously been detained in the city of Rheine.
Spying on a drone producer
According to counterintelligence officials, Sergey N., originally from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, began systematically collecting information in December 2025 about a German company supplying Ukraine with military kamikaze drones and related components.
Among other things, he secretly filmed the company’s facilities.
His alleged accomplice, Alla S., later continued the surveillance. She investigated the company’s founder's private address and secretly photographed the entrance to his home.
Investigators believe the operation may have been conducted in preparation for physical attacks or an assassination attempt against the businessman. The company’s CEO said he remains safe and has already implemented additional security measures.
Russian sabotage and espionage in Europe
Russian intelligence services have recently intensified espionage and sabotage activities across Europe in an apparent effort to undermine support for Ukraine.
In Berlin, authorities previously arrested a Kazakh citizen accused of passing secret information about Western military aid for Ukraine to Moscow and attempting to form his own sabotage group.
This is also not the first case involving Ukrainian citizens recruited for Kremlin-linked operations in Germany. Earlier, police in the city of Hagen detained a 53-year-old Ukrainian man accused of spying on a former Ukrainian serviceman currently living in Germany on orders from Russian handlers.
Russia has also used social media recruitment methods to gather intelligence and destabilize the situation in the EU. In the Netherlands, authorities uncovered a scheme involving the recruitment of teenagers through Telegram. Two 17-year-old boys were arrested in The Hague while gathering information on behalf of a pro-Russian hacker.
