SSU detains ex-PM Kiva's associate who directed occupiers' fire at AFU combat positions

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has detained a village council member in the Poltava Region, who was a member of the close entourage of former MP Ilya Kiva of the banned OPZJ party. The official was correcting Russian shelling at the forward positions of the Defence Forces on the eastern front," the SBU press service said.

According to the investigation, in July 2023, the Deputy, on his page on the social network, disseminated information that was not published by the Generalshab of the AFU and the Ministry of Defence. This is about the location of an AFU unit with the possibility of its identification on the ground. He deceitfully obtained the data from acquaintances carrying out combat missions in the Donetsk region.

He then labelled the information obtained on electronic maps and published it on his own Facebook page, which was actively "monitored" by representatives of the Russian security services. Such information was further used by the aggressor to adjust the shelling of positions of Ukrainian defenders, including from barrel and rocket artillery (in particular, Grads)," the report said.

In addition, comments on the social network discredited the command staff of the AFU units. The investigation found that propaganda media actively used such messages to prepare fake stories about the war in Ukraine.

The attacker has been detained. Now the deputy has chosen a measure of restraint - detention without the right to bail. He is accused of committing a criminal offence against the foundations of the national security of Ukraine (part 2 of Article 114-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

In addition, information about the possible cooperation of the defendant with the fugitive MP Kiva after the beginning of a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation is being checked.

For what he has done, he faces up to 8 years in prison

Earlier Socportal reported that the SBU and the SBU conduct searches at the MP, who, under the pretext of treatment of his father, travelled abroad during martial law.