German federal prosecutors said Thursday they had arrested a Ukrainian man suspected of spying for Russian intelligence and gathering military-sensitive information, including details potentially relevant to NATO’s eastern flank.
The magazine Der Spiegel, which first reported the arrest, said the suspect was interested in a German army brigade scheduled to be deployed in Lithuania next year.
The suspect, identified as Vadym Y., allegedly collected information on the production of armoured vehicles, ammunition and explosives, as well as military personnel and facilities in areas designated to protect NATO’s eastern flank, prosecutors said.
He was arrested by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office in the Oder-Spree district of Brandenburg, east of Berlin, based on information provided by the domestic intelligence agency BfV, prosecutors said.
“Vadym Y. had been in contact with a Russian intelligence service through an intermediary since at least July 2025,” prosecutors said in a statement.
“Against the backdrop of the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, he gathered military-sensitive information in Germany for this intelligence service,” the statement added.
The suspect collected publicly available information but also deliberately targeted people in Europe’s defence industry to obtain additional intelligence, prosecutors said.
Martin Jäger, head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, told lawmakers this month that Russia’s “shadow war” against Germany and its allies was intensifying and had “taken on a new, more dangerous dimension”.
“Germany is in danger of being drawn into a violent conflict with Russia,” Jäger said at a meeting of the parliamentary committee overseeing intelligence services in Berlin.