Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported on 30 October the arrest of a Kharkiv resident who assisted Russia in enhancing Shahed suicide drones.

According to the SBU, the 72-year-old mechanical engineer was commissioned by Russia to develop designs for improving the Shahed drones’ engines and catapult systems.

Russia regularly attacks the Kharkiv Oblast, including the city of Kharkiv, and frequently employs Shahed drones in strikes across Ukraine. Moscow has consistently denied deliberately targeting civilians since the full-scale invasion began.

The suspect allegedly transmitted the technological developments remotely to an acquaintance, the CEO of a Russian machine-building plant that produces drone components.

Since 2023, this plant has cooperated with a company manufacturing “Geran-2” drones, the Russian designation for Shahed models.

According to the SBU, the scientist involved his former student, who fled the Kharkiv Oblast to Russia at the start of the full-scale war. There, he got a job at a Moscow technology university, where he was involved in drone development for the Russian armed forces.

The Kharkiv scholar was detained at his place of residence. He has been charged with complicity with Russia, which carries a potential 12-year prison sentence with asset confiscation.

The SBU also plans to issue an absentia notice of suspicion to his former student.

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