Russian missile artillery. How do Ukrainian citizens help the enemy launch missile attacks?

On the night of May 3, Russia launched a massive bombardment: explosions thundered in Kiev, the Dnieper, Cherkassy and Zaporozhye. And at dawn on April 28, he launched another missile attack on Ukraine. As a result of the launch of cruise missiles, a multi-storey building was destroyed in Uman – 23 people died, including five children.

The missile the Russians used to hit the house was a Kh-101 strategic air-to-ground cruise missile. Experts call this “conditionally high sensitivity” and doubt that the building is the primary target. However, troops released and shot down by the Ukrainian air defense could be sent to other facilities in Uman. Needless to say now for security reasons. However, local residents are confident that Uman has become a target not only because, as a state of terror, Russia is trying to intimidate civilians, but also because to someone the town seems to house important objects that existed here a few decades ago.

“I’m sure someone pointed them out,” says one local resident.

Now in Ukraine, law enforcement agencies are investigating dozens and even several cases of flooding.

For example, at the beginning of 2023, the SBU announced the arrest of an engineer from one of the state-owned enterprises in the Lviv region, suspected of targeting enemy missiles at strategic enterprises in Ukraine. According to the service, he was recruited by representatives of the Russian special services at the beginning of a full-scale invasion. At first, under the guise of a business trip, he went to Kiev and Zaporozhye to detect power plants and railway infrastructure, on which the enemy carried out missile attacks. I had to study their technical condition, possible level of damage on the spot and draw up an appropriate “report” in the Russian Federation. Then he went to Lviv, where he was detained. Law enforcement officers learned that the engineer deals with critical infrastructure objects, he must send information to the enemy in the form of electronic coordinates and photographic materials with reference to the terrain. Investigators say that the Russian Federation should prepare and carry out a series of targeted missile strikes on the territory of the region.

The SBU announces such arrests almost monthly. They take place in different regions of Ukraine. As a rule, the SBU informs potential gunners of suspicion under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Part 2 of Art. 111 (treason) and Art. 2, part 3. 436-2 (justification of armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, legal recognition, rejection, glorification of its participants). Suspicion is also declared in accordance with Art. 114-2 (unauthorized dissemination of information about the direction, movement of weapons, weapons and ammunition).

betrayal. How does the FSB look for people ready to cooperate?

“In most cases, cases are based on evidence that certain individuals have passed information on to Federal Security Service – FSB employees,” he says. Focus Artur Prikhno, expert on the Media Initiative for Human Rights. He oversees cases related to the armed anger of the Russian Federation. He says he currently focuses on more than sixty cases in the courts, but more of them are heard.

“The content of most of them is the same: the Prosecutor’s Office claims that people who identify themselves as FSB officers wrote to Ukrainian citizens in a Telegram, assigned specific tasks: go see where the Ukrainian troops are stationed, see the facilities, check whether the bombardment was effective. Prykhno, in many cases the defendants fully admitted their guilt “And it comes to an agreement with the mitigating investigation, but the penalties are still associated with actual prison sentences.”

He talks about several such cases.

For example, Tatyana Zakharchenko, a resident of Kramatorsk, informed the Russians about the location of the soldiers – several dormitories where the Ukrainian army was located, a school and a hospital. The prosecution stated in court that it sent screenshots of the maps via Telegram, which included notes on the locations of the targets, as well as a brief description of who was there. In court, the woman admitted that she had actually spoken to a friend who had left Ukraine and lived in Russia, but did not know why she needed this information. Zakharchenko pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years and three months in prison. What were the consequences of such activities of a woman from Kramatorsk – the verdict does not show.

In Kiev, another case of flooding was heard – Kiev resident Kristina Berestetskaya, “activists and volunteers” of the “Creative Society” organization, but in fact – sects. According to the court’s determination, it collected information about the location of the Ukrainian army and critical infrastructure. Actually, several episodes. In particular, Berestetskaya collected information about energy facilities and bases of regional defense forces, which was transmitted via Telegram to the person who came into contact with Russia. According to the woman, this face was previously unknown. But the investigation managed to establish his identity, his name was encrypted in the decision. The defendant pleaded guilty, as evidenced by the prosecutors’ screenshots taken from Google maps in court. Berestetskaya was sentenced to 8 years in prison. But the decision has not yet entered into force, the case is on appeal.

Important

Arthur Prykhno calls the prosecutor’s most famous flood case, the former head of the Nikolaev district prosecutor’s office, Gennady German. He is accused of treason. The German is accused of targeting an object containing the Ukrainian army. Dozens of people died as a result of the missile attack on Nikolaev. Herman’s defense emphasizes that he was not accused of incitement, but of passing on the personal data of the deceased to the so-called blogger Yuri Podolyaka from Russia. Podolyaka is from the Sumy region but lives in the Russian Federation and is a defendant in a criminal case in Ukraine. As for Herman, he’s under arrest, the case is in court – awaiting consideration of the merits. But families of deceased soldiers with portraits are already arriving at the hearings, demanding fair punishment.

What is the responsibility of flooding and helping the enemy?

Lawyer Andrey Yakovlev, managing partner of JSC “Umbrela”, reviewed the judgments of the first-instance courts in cases in Kramatorsk and Kiev.

“In the case of so-called volunteers, since we are talking about the direct transfer of data to the representatives of the Russian Federation, it is clearly stated that both part 2 114-2 and part 3 of article 114-2 apply. For Kramatorsk, only .2 in the judgment is used. “The difference is that one person transmits the data to a particular person and understands its purpose, while the other communicates with a comrade, reporting the information, but not knowing exactly where. So women received different punishments even if they pleaded guilty,” explains the lawyer. Focus.

The Russian Federation proclaims the need to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure or other vital objects, but from its point of view it has limited opportunities to conduct reconnaissance to produce a more effective defeat.

“Obviously, he uses the possibilities of adjustment for this. And the adjustment happens because the representatives of the Russian Federation find people who agree to cooperate. This is due to various reasons – selfish motives or people who do not consciously cooperate with Russia, who do not consciously cooperate with the aggressor state, who do not understand that certain information can be used by the enemy. He also uses it.”

In March 2022, the Verkhovna Rada decided that it is necessary to criminalize both the unconscious provision of assistance to the enemy and the deliberate provision of information assistance. Changes were made to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, 114-2. item is out. “The penalty for the violation is from 5 to 8 years. And then the responsibility of helping the aggressor state was added to Article 111 on treason. And all this was to reduce the actual aid and assistance to the enemy.

According to the lawyers, the main purpose of such changes was to criminalize the public dissemination of information that assists the enemy.

In fact, the people’s deputies decided to take several tiers of responsibility for actions against national security through information assistance to the enemy. If we are talking about individual cases, then doubt under Art. If 114-2 is “on a professional basis” with ideological motives, then under Article 114 – espionage.

If there is a deliberate act by a citizen of Ukraine that will harm the sovereignty, territorial integrity and immunity of Ukraine, its defense capability, state, economic or information security, it is treason. If a person undertakes this and justifies the aggression of the Russian Federation, he approves, then another clause is added – 436-2 (justification, legal recognition, rejection of the armed anger of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants).

Important

Law enforcement agencies remind that not only deliberately informing the enemy about military and infrastructure facilities that may become its target, but also accidentally disseminating data that may be useful to the Russian Federation in social networks and private correspondence can be grounds for criminal prosecution. they become enemies. Lawyer Yakovlev explains this by the fact that the dissemination, transmission of information that helps the enemy to target weapons and destroy objects in the energy or transport sector will be considered treason and will be punishable by significantly longer prison sentences.