A British man arrested in Kyiv for preparing to commit terrorist attacks

British Citizen Arrested in Kyiv on Suspicion of Spying for Russia’s FSB

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and counterintelligence investigators have detained an alleged Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agent in Kyiv, who turned out to be a British national, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported on Oct. 29.

The man’s identity has not been disclosed. He reportedly arrived in Ukraine in early 2024 to work as an instructor training newly mobilized Ukrainian troops. However, a few months later, he allegedly began cooperating with Russian intelligence services “for easy earnings,” according to investigators.

The suspect is said to have offered his services through pro-Kremlin online groups, eventually being recruited by an FSB officer who assigned him operational tasks, including preparing terrorist attacks.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the British citizen passed sensitive military information to Russia, including details about foreign instructors and the locations of Ukrainian training centers in southern Ukraine.

Russian intelligence allegedly provided him with instructions for assembling an improvised explosive device, as well as coordinates for a hiding place where he retrieved a pistol and two loaded magazines.

The SBU uncovered the plot and detained the suspect, who is now in custody. He faces up to 12 years in prison and possible property confiscation.

Authorities continue to investigate the case to establish all circumstances and determine whether further charges will be brought.

Russia has increasingly sought to recruit both Ukrainian and foreign nationals for sabotage and intelligence operations since the start of its full-scale invasion, with children also being targeted through social media and online games.

Russia attempts to encircle Pokrovsk, has amassed around 11,000

Russia Deploys 11,000 Troops to Encircle Pokrovsk, Ukrainian Forces Report

Russia has deployed around 11,000 troops in an attempt to encircle the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast, according to the 7th Rapid Response Corps of Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces.

“The enemy has deployed about 11,000 troops to carry out the plan to encircle the Pokrovsk agglomeration. The enemy groups that have managed to infiltrate the city aim to advance to the northwest and north of Pokrovsk,” the 7th Rapid Response Corps said in a statement on Facebook.

In total, Russian forces have concentrated around 27,000 personnel, about 100 tanks, up to 260 armored combat vehicles, and around 160 artillery systems and mortars in the area, the unit reported.

Despite the buildup, Ukrainian defenders continue to hold their positions. Over the past two days, the 7th Corps reported killing 90 Russian soldiers and wounding 42. Ukrainian forces also destroyed one armored personnel carrier, three infantry fighting vehicles, three other vehicles, and one motorcycle.

In addition, Ukrainian troops downed or forced to land 158 Russian drones of various types. Eighteen Russian soldiers were reportedly killed within Pokrovsk itself.

Russian artillery hit the children's hospital in Kherson

On the morning of October 29, 2025, Russian forces shelled a children's hospital in Kherson, Ukraine, around 9:20 a.m. local time, injuring nine people, including three children, three healthcare workers, and a mother accompanying her child, in a deliberate attack that highlighted Moscow's ongoing targeting of civilian medical facilities. The assault, part of a broader barrage on 25 settlements in the Kherson region that day, damaged the hospital building where young patients, parents, and staff were present, prompting an immediate response from emergency services and the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office, which opened a war crimes investigation under Article 438 of Ukraine's Criminal Code.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strike as a "blatant war crime" on Telegram, noting that Russia could not have been unaware of the target, and called for stronger international sanctions, echoing similar attacks like the July 2024 strike on Kyiv's Okhmatdyt hospital that killed dozens.

This incident, amid over 475 verified attacks on healthcare in Ukraine this year alone according to WHO data, underscores the escalating civilian toll, with no fatalities reported but the youngest victim an 8-year-old boy wounded alongside his family, leaving the city reeling from the assault on a symbol of care for the vulnerable.