Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023 authorized the ordering of at least two attempts to assassinate Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) head Vasyl Maliuk told media on June 23,  RBC-Ukraine reports.

Gordon is a prominent journalist and media personality popular in both Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries, known for his sharp criticism of Russian aggression. His YouTube channel has 4.5 million subscribers.

"Gordon triggers Russians. He has a large audience in Russia and in the (Russian) occupied territories (of Ukraine)," Maliuk said. "There are two networks that worked on Gordon that we can speak (publicly) about."

According to the SBU, the first network was led by a former lawmaker from the now-banned pro-Russian Party of Regions, originally from Poltava Oblast. The agency did not name the lawmaker.

The former MP was allegedly tasked by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) with coordinating surveillance and preparations for a strike that would kill Gordon.

"The plan was to use a homemade explosive device or coordinate a missile or a drone strike — but only if Gordon's presence in the targeted house was confirmed," Maliuk said.

The SBU had already been investigating the ex-lawmaker for involvement in a separate railway bombing case in Poltava Oblast when the assassination plot was uncovered. The group was arrested before executing the plan.

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The second assassination team, Maliuk said, was a criminal group from Dagestan working secretly for the FSB under the cover of being fugitives from Russian law enforcement.

"They sent this individual here long before the full-scale war. He carried out FSB tasks all the time — very professionally, very covertly," Maliuk said.

The group monitored Gordon's movements and residence, planning to assassinate him either with a short-barreled weapon if he was alone, or with a rifle and follow-up pistol shot if accompanied by a bodyguard.

The SBU detained the group, and its leader confessed to preparing the hit on Moscow's orders. He said he had been promised $400,000 for the killing.

Gordon, who has become a high-profile figure on Ukraine's information front, regularly uses his platform to expose Russian disinformation and advocate for Ukrainian sovereignty.

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Ukraine's security service (SBU) is teaching teenagers how to avoid recruitment by Russian intelligence online, the New York Times (NYT) reported on June 21.

"Maybe not all of these special operations are reported in the media — but believe me, the enemy is not sleeping... They are working actively and carrying out illegal activities, as strange as it may sound, directly inside your phones," SBU spokesperson Roksolana Yavorska-Isaienko told students.

Approximately 22% of Ukrainians recruited by Russian intelligence to conduct sabotage or terrorist attacks are minors, Artem Dekhtiarenko, SBU spokesperson, said on April 2.

Russian intelligence attempts to recruit Ukrainian civilians online, offering easy money in return for sharing sensitive data or preparing sabotage or terrorist acts.

Russian intelligence finds its recruits using social platforms, including Telegram, Discord, and TikTok.

Unsuspecting teenagers are often offered hundreds or even thousands of dollars to conduct simpler tasks such as delivering packages or taking photos of energy sites, the NYT reports.

More serious tasks are commonly assigned to teenagers once they have been blackmailed for conducting less serious operations beforehand or when their phones are hacked to reveal compromising photos.

Russian intelligence is actively attempting to recruit Ukrainian nationals for illegal operations across the EU, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) said on June 2.

"The recruitment of Ukrainians for hostile operations in Europe is yet another tool of hybrid aggression that the Russian Federation is waging against Ukraine and the entire European community," HUR said.

The SBU caught a Russian agent as he was filming a military airfield in preparation for a Russian strike, the agency reported on June 15.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) recruited the unemployed 24-year-old via the Telegram messaging app to collect coordinates for air attacks on airfields and logistic depots, the SBU said.

The Russian FSB allegedly offered "easy money" and instructed the recruit to find military facilities and carry out reconnaissance on the ground.

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Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) caught a Russian agent red-handed as he was filming a military airfield in preparation for a Russian strike, the agency reported on June 15.

According to the SBU, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) recruited the unemployed 24-year-old via the Telegram messaging app to collect coordinates for air attacks on airfields and logistic depots.

The FSB had allegedly instructed him to find military facilities and carry out reconnaissance on the ground in exchange for “easy money.”

The man was detained outside an airfield in Rivne Oblast while filming its outer perimeter with a hidden camera in his car. The SBU seized a phone and the camera on the scene, while other evidence was taken from the agent’s apartment.

If found guilty, he faces life imprisonment for high treason.

The SBU regularly announces it has foiled Russian agents and terrorist plots against military and civilian targets. The FSB usually targets unemployed people, those with criminal records, or addicts, according to the SBU's data.

In April, the SBU detained an instructor at a training center in Lviv Oblast who was planning to assassinate the base's commanders. That same month, the SBU detained nine FSB agents, including five minors, for plotting terrorist attacks in central and eastern Ukraine.

More than a fifth of FSB recruits in Ukraine are minors.

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