October 16, 2026
photo: Getty Images
Russian Lieutenant Lev Stupnikov secretly passed information about the location of Russian units, combat plans, and command posts to Ukrainian military intelligence for several months. This information helped Ukrainian forces eliminate more than 300 Russian servicemen.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal .
How a Russian officer began helping Ukraine
Lev Stupnikov, 26, graduated from the Military Communications Academy in St. Petersburg and served in the 36th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Army. As the battalion’s communications chief, he had access to important information: unit coordinates, data on the work of reconnaissance drones, and plans of the Russian command.
The military man had become increasingly disillusioned with the Russian army due to corruption, incompetence of commanders, and the brutal treatment of Ukrainian civilians. The full-scale Russian invasion reinforced his disapproval of the war.
The officer’s mother, Tatyana Yantsen, who opposed Vladimir Putin’s regime, helped establish contact with the Ukrainian side. In February 2024, she turned to Dmitry Karpenko, a programmer who collaborated with Ukrainian military intelligence and helped establish contact with Russian military personnel who were ready to pass on information.
After that, Stupnikov began to systematically report information about Russian troops and their operations to the Ukrainian side.
Attack on Russian military near Vugledar
One of the first large-scale operations that used the data provided by Stupnikov was a missile attack on a concentration of Russian military personnel near Vugledar in February 2024.
Then, Russian infantrymen, medics, and officers gathered for field exercises near the front line. They were watched by representatives of the Russian high command.
Stupnikov photographed the soldiers, estimated their number, and passed this information on to his Ukrainian contact. He had given the exact coordinates of the location in advance. When the Russian soldiers gathered on the field, the Ukrainian side warned the officer to move away from the intended strike site. Soon, missiles were fired at the position.
According to the data Stupnikov provided after the attack, 68 Russian servicemen were killed and another 60 were wounded. Among the dead were ten officers, including the commander of the 36th Motorized Rifle Brigade, Colonel Huseyn Musayev.
As the WSJ notes, this strike was the first in a series of operations in which Ukrainian forces used intelligence from a Russian officer. In total, the information he provided helped eliminate more than 300 Russian soldiers.
Stupnikov also carried out sabotage and later escaped from the Russian army.
In addition to transmitting coordinates and plans to the command, Stupnikov carried out sabotage actions. In particular, he turned off the cameras with which the Russians were monitoring Ukrainian territory, and also interfered with the operation of equipment for controlling drones.
Over time, the officer began to fear exposure: the Russian command suspected that there was an informant among the military who was passing on data to the Ukrainian side.
In July 2024, Stupnikov managed to leave the Russian army positions and reach territory controlled by Ukraine. He later joined the Russian Volunteer Corps.
According to the WSJ, Ukrainian intelligence maintains contacts with thousands of people in Russia – both military personnel at the front and civilians who provide information about military facilities.
Russian volunteers carried out sabotage operations on the territory of the Russian Federation
In July 2026, it became known that the Russian Freedom Legion had been preparing sabotage against the Russian gas infrastructure for a year . According to the deputy commander of the Legion, with the call sign Caesar, during Operation Smoloskip, the saboteurs destroyed six Gazprom gas distribution stations near Moscow and in the Tver region. The damage was estimated at more than $6 million.
Wow! Cockroach officers are notorious for sending their meat puppets to their deaths, but this is truly a new way of doing it.
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