A Ukrainian national was arrested in Brandenburg on Thursday on suspicion of spying for Russia, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe announced.
Prosecutors allege that Vadym Y. had been in contact with a Russian intelligence service through an intermediary since at least July 2025. In connection with the war between Russia and Ukraine, he is said to have obtained militarily relevant information for that service from within Germany.
The material is said to have included details on the production of armoured vehicles, ammunition and explosives, as well as personnel and military facilities at sites used to secure NATO’s eastern flank. Some of the information was publicly accessible. Other details, prosecutors say, were deliberately obtained by approaching people who work in the European defence industry.
The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office handles cases that affect Germany’s national security and involve suspected espionage for a foreign power. The arrest comes as German security authorities issue increasingly stark warnings about suspected Russian espionage and sabotage.
Euronews reported in April 2026 on the arrest in Berlin of a man alleged to have passed information on Germany’s military support for Ukraine, defence companies and military convoys to a Russian intelligence service, with possible sabotage targets also said to have been involved. Separately, a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice made public in October accuses a 53-year-old Ukrainian from Attendorn, North Rhine-Westphalia, of monitoring another Ukrainian in a refugee shelter for Russia’s FSB and passing on information about that person’s contacts via Telegram. Charges of acting as an intelligence agent have been brought in that case.
In the Brandenburg case the investigation is still under way. The precise background to the alleged information gathering and any possible accomplices have yet to be established. Until a final conviction, the presumption of innocence applies.