Ukraine said Monday it had sentenced a former police officer to 15 years behind bars on high treason charges for passing the location of air defence units to Russia.

Kyiv has opened thousands of probes against Ukrainians suspected of collaborating with Russian forces since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Prosecutors said the resident of the industrial Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow claims is part of Russia, had communicated the positions of air defence units to a former classmate, now in the Russian military.

“The man travelled around the city of Zaporizhzhia and its outskirts to establish the locations of air defence positions, personnel, and defence forces’ equipment,” the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said in a statement.

It added that the man had also gathered information on the locations of defence industry facilities in the region.

Zaporizhzhia, which had a population of around 700,000 people in 2022, has come under persistent Russian aerial attacks since Russia invaded.

Ukraine has urged its Western allies to bolster its air defence systems to thwart Russian attacks on critical infrastructure such as energy facilities.

Vanguard News