25 people arrested in Russian-occupied territories for supporting Kiev

The Russian National Guard announced on Monday, July 29, the arrests of 25 people in occupied regions of southern Ukraine. “Based on information received from military counterintelligence, special forces (…) detained 25 local residents suspected of assisting the Ukrainian armed forces and handed them over to the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service (FSB)”Rosgvardia said.

The arrests took place in the occupied parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine. Four people are accused of espionage and collecting information about the activities of the Russian military, and eight others are suspected of “treason”. Others are accused of having spread messages calling for “acts of terrorism” on social media, and others of raising funds for banned organizations. Weapons were also reportedly seized.

Russia has been increasing the number of arrests of people accused of supporting or helping Ukraine, whether in the occupied regions or on its territory. It has thus imprisoned a number of people denouncing the assault on kyiv, others accused of sabotage operations or of having transmitted intelligence to Ukraine.