MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a Ukrainian intelligence agent who was collecting data on Russian National Guard units stationed in the special military operation zone, the FSB said in a statement.

"Investigators established that the Ukrainian national’s handler at the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate [GUR] had tasked him with collecting data on the places of deployment and routes of the Federal National Guard Service’s units in the special military operation zone. The plan was to use such information to carry out missile and artillery strikes on the federal service’s personnel and military equipment," the statement reads.

The Kievsky District Court in Simferopol, Crimea, ruled that the apprehended agent be placed in custody for two months.

He used online messengers to send information about the routes of Russian troops and the equipment and weapons they are using in the special military operation to his handler at the GUR.

The FSB Investigative Department for Crimea and Sevastopol launched a criminal investigation against the Ukrainian agent under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Espionage"). If found guilty, he may face up to 20 years in prison.