Two Russian men, identified as Ivan and Foma, have given rare accounts of operations they claim to have been involved with, targeting military assets and personnel inside Russia. Both men state they are secretly working for Ukraine's military intelligence service (GUR).
Ivan claims to have played a role from Russia in Ukrainian drone attacks on strategic bombers and munitions factories. Foma, who lives in exile in Poland, states he runs a network of undercover volunteers in Russia that surveils high-level officers for the GUR. He stressed that his network is not involved in the attacks themselves.
The GUR has confirmed that both Ivan and Foma are working for the agency, though it acknowledges it cannot know the full picture of their activities. Ukrainian authorities have acknowledged a strategy of co-ordinated drone attacks on what they claim are legitimate targets inside Russia, and that they use secret agents for this purpose.
Foma admitted to providing intelligence on Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov, who was assassinated in Moscow in December 2025. Ivan's work, he told an independent Polish journalist, involved surveilling military sites and locating places to hide drone components for potential attacks on Russian assets.
Both men expressed opposition to Russia's war in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin's regime, believing his political future depends on the war's outcome. Foma estimates his network of Russians doing this kind of work for Ukraine numbers about 300-500, though this figure is unverified.