Ukraine's state security service (SSU) on Thursday arrested a government official they claim was doubling as an "agent of Russian intelligence." The official formed part of Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman's inner circle, according to authorities.

"Together with the Security Service of Ukraine, an official in the government's secretariat was found to be working for a long time in the interests of the enemy state. He was detained," Groysman said in a post on Facebook.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian authorities are aware of the arrest, "but we have no information," reported state-owned TASS news agency.

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Authorities did not provide a name or position for the suspect, but local media reported that Stanislav Yezhov, the premier's assistant, had been detained a day earlier.

Yezhov reportedly accompanied Groysman on all international trips during his time as assistant, and previously worked in the president's office and the Ukrainian embassy in the US. Ukraine's state security service said he had been recruited by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

Russia's FSB, the successor of the Soviet-era KGB, collaborated with Ukrainian intelligence until the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula

From intelligence partners to 'enemy'

In the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse in the early 1990s, Russia's FSB and its Ukrainian counterpart cooperated on security and counter-intelligence.

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However, all that changed in 2014, when Russian forces staged a military intervention on the Crimean Peninsula and held an internationally condemned referendum to annex the Ukrainian territory. In particular, the intelligence-sharing framework is believed to have collapsed as the SSU moved towards working with European partners.

The SSU had cultivated "partnership and cooperation agreements with their NATO counterparts" in the wake of the annexation, said Ukrainian analyst Maksym Bugriy of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation.

Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea was seen as a response to pro-European protests in the capital Kyiv that toppled the government of former President Viktor Yanukovych, a staunch Kremlin ally. The annexation triggered an armed insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels have demanded recognition as a separate, sovereign state.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Caught in the crossfire Every evening, the shelling begins around sunset. The front lines near Donetsk see nightly mortar and machine gun fire as the conflict between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists’ rages on. Caught in the crossfire are many elderly civilians who are too impoverished to go elsewhere. Ivan Polansky, above, surveys the damage on his home in Zhovanka.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines ‘Waiting for a shell’ Residents of Zhovanka in the so-called ‘gray zone,’ a thin strip of land separating warring militaries, line up to see a visiting doctor. Medics hold pop-up clinics in the town once a week. "Each day, you are waiting for the shell to land on your house and you never know when it’s going to come," said local resident Ludmila Studerikove.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Without electricity and heating Zhovanka was once home to 1,000 people, but the number has dwindled to about 200 since the war began in mid-2014. It has been three months since residents have had electricity and gas. "Sometimes I’m so scared that I lay in bed at night and just shake,” Studerikove said. “My husband stays by my side and holds my hand."

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Nowhere else to go Olexander Voroshkov, program coordinator for the regional charity SOS Kramatorsk, said residents continue to live in half-destroyed homes with leaky roofs, even through the winters, because rent in nearby Ukrainian cities has skyrocketed since the beginning of the conflict. "Rents in Kramatorsk are now similar to those in Kiev, but the salaries are much lower than in Kiev," Voroshkov said.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Reliance on humanitarian aid Women line up to receive medicine and multivitamins in Zhovanka. Food and humanitarian supplies are delivered to the town by charity organizations, as crossing checkpoints sometimes requires people to wait more than a day in line. "We had everything; we had fresh air, nature. It was very nice here. Now we just have the cold," said local resident Vera Sharovarova.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Adapting to DNR frontlines Vera Anoshyna, left, speaks with neighbors in Spartak, a town in what is now the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). Anoshyna said she has done her best to adapt to the conflict. "If you don’t have water, you find it," she said. "If you don’t have electricity, you find a solution. But you never know where the next bomb will land."

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Six broken ribs Svetlana Zavadenko stands before her home in Spartak. She was injured when the walls collapsed after several mortars exploded in her yard. Neighbors had to dig Zavadenko out of the rubble and she was sent to the hospital with six broken ribs and a ruptured liver. She smokes “Minsk” brand cigarettes and laughs when asked what she thinks about the war.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines 'We lost hope' Zavadenko recovered from her injuries and lives alone with several pets. Spartak has not had electricity, gas, or water services since 2014, so she uses a grill to cook her food. For firewood, she goes to an abandoned furniture factory nearby and collects plywood. "Last winter we thought [the war] would finish, but now, honestly, we lost hope," she said.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Possibility of a drawdown Damage from shelling on the outskirts of Donetsk. Despite past failures in deescalating the war, a new ceasefire may be in sight after an October peace summit in Berlin, where Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he was ready to end hostilities in eastern Ukraine and would withdraw troops from the region.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines 'We lost too many soldiers to stop now' Even if both sides agree on a ceasefire, they will face opposition from their militaries, who claim their sacrifices were too heavy to simply put down their weapons. "We lost too many soldiers to stop now," said Vladimir Parkhamovich, colonel of the 81st Airmobile Brigade in the Ukrainian military. "If they give us an order [to stop] we’ll consider them traitors." Author: Diego Cupolo



ls/dm (Reuters, dpa)