Germany Detains Ukrainian Suspected of Spying on NATO Sites for Russia

On October 22, Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office detained Ukrainian citizen Vadym Y. on suspicion of gathering information about NATO military facilities for Russian intelligence, according to a statement by Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office, cited by European Pravda.

The Ukrainian was detained in the Oder-Spree district of the state of Brandenburg on the basis of an arrest warrant dated October 15. He is suspected of acting for the intelligence service of a foreign state. According to investigators, since July 2025 at the latest he maintained contact with Russian intelligence through an intermediary. He also collected data of military significance in Germany, including information on the production of armored vehicles, ammunition and explosives, and on personnel and military facilities in areas that support the defense of NATO's eastern flank.

Some of the information was publicly available, while other material the suspect obtained deliberately from people linked to the European defense industry. Der Spiegel writes that the man was interested in the Bundeswehr's 45th Panzer Brigade, which is due to be fully deployed in Lithuania next year and ready for combat.

Next steps and similar cases

Prosecutors said the suspect will be brought on October 23 before an investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice, who will issue the arrest order and decide on pretrial detention.

Earlier, Poland's military police detained a participant in a reservist training course at the Military Medical Academy in Lodz, reportedly suspected of espionage and holding Polish-Ukrainian citizenship. In September, prosecutors in Duesseldorf brought charges against a Ukrainian suspected of spying for Russia. In early August, a 33-year-old Ukrainian was arrested in Germany on suspicion of spying on a defense company.