Latest news with #Anti-Maidan
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Journalists identify collaborators involved in religious persecution in occupied Melitopol
Investigative journalists from The Kyiv Independent have identified collaborators responsible for religious persecution in the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, particularly in the city of Melitopol. Source: investigative documentary No God but Theirs Details: The journalists contacted a man currently heading the Department for Work with Religious Organisations under the Russian occupation's military-civil administration in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. His name is Artem Sharlai. He is responsible for suppressing Ukrainian churches in the occupied city of Melitopol. Originally from Zaporizhzhia, Sharlai has espoused pro-Russian views since the early 2000s. During the Revolution of Dignity, he took part in the local Anti-Maidan movement and later joined the illegal armed formations of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) at the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war. He disappeared from the public eye for some time, returning in 2022 to launch a campaign against so-called "sects" in the occupied territory. Sharlai told journalists about his colleagues: Andrii Zinchenko, Viacheslav Lytvynenko and Oleksandr Danylov. The latter, even before the annexation of Crimea, held mid-level administrative posts and openly promoted pro-Russian rhetoric. After the start of the full-scale invasion, Danylov moved to Melitopol and now heads the Department for Internal Policy in the occupation administration. Yevhen Balytskyi, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament who sided with Russia after the full-scale invasion began, signed decrees banning churches. These orders also stripped them of all movable and immovable property. As head of the occupation administration, Balytskyi is the key figure coordinating the persecution of Ukrainian churches in Melitopol. Now, the seized church buildings are used by Russian occupation authorities. The former premises of the New Generation church host the so-called Ministry of Youth of Zaporizhzhia Oblast; the Grace church now houses the Ministry of Culture; and the Word of Life church building has been handed over to a department of the so-called Ministry of Internal Affairs. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine's Security Service reveals details of operation on exposing mole among top officials – photos, video
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has released details of an unprecedented special operation called Mole to expose and detain a Russian FSB mole within its ranks, who, as Ukrainska Pravda reports, was the chief of staff at the SSU's Anti-Terrorist Centre, Colonel Dmytro Koziura. Source: SSU press service Details: The investigation revealed that the traitor was recruited by the FSB in 2018 in Vienna. For some time, Russian supervisors "preserved" the suspect for security reasons, and he did not carry out active espionage activities. However, at the end of December last year, the FSB resumed contact with him, which was also under the operational control of the SSU internal security officers. Seized property. Photo: Security Service of Ukraine The SSU claims to have discovered a covert channel of communication between the spy and the Russian intelligence service, organised through a Ukrainian citizen who had previously fled to Russia. Vasyl Maliuk detains the mole Photo: Security Service of Ukraine The SSU reports that this person was a member of the so-called headquarters of Andrii Kliuiev, an assistant to one of the MPs of the banned Party of Regions, and took an active part in the organisation of the Anti-Maidan movement, as well as transferring money from Moscow for participants in paid rallies. Security Service of Ukraine detains the mole Photo: Security Service of Ukraine Quote from SSU: "It is planned to serve this person a notice of suspicion of high treason, both in complicity with an enemy agent and in separate episodes." The SSU determined that Yurii Shatalov was in charge of coordinating the activities of the Russian Federal Security Service's (FSB) agent network. The mole used a safe house in Kyiv to communicate with a resident of the Russian special service. He received a special mobile phone, a Wi-Fi router and a SIM card, which he used to covertly transmit information collected for the Russian FSB, including documents containing state secrets. The SSU reported that the investigation now has a lot of indisputable evidence of the criminal activity of the defendants in the case. Among them are materials obtained in the course of complex operational and technical measures, interception of information, audio and video, correspondence, etc. The detained official was served a notice of suspicion under Art. 111 (high treason) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. He faces life imprisonment with property confiscation. Background: Earlier, the SSU reported the exposure of a Russian FSB mole within its ranks, whose detention on 12 February was personally attended by SSU Head Vasyl Maliuk. Support UP or become our patron!
