Over 50 Assassination Attempts on Military Personnel via Honey Traps Foiled Since the Start of the Year

Since the beginning of 2026, the SSU has thwarted over 50 assassination attempts against Ukrainian military personnel that Russian intelligence services were planning using honey traps.

The Security Service of Ukraine reported on this.

These were assassination attempts targeting members of the Defense Forces, whom the attackers planned to kill through online dating and staged dates with women. Russian intelligence services have significantly stepped up their use of such schemes.

To this end, enemy agents use dating sites and themed chat rooms in messaging apps, where they use fake accounts to befriend military personnel and lure them into staged dates. The soldiers are then invited to prearranged locations where the assassination attempt takes place.

Most often, Russian intelligence services use homemade explosive devices planted at the site of a planned attack to attempt to eliminate Ukrainian defenders. They also use lethal poisons synthesized from narcotic, psychotropic, and other chemical substances.

For example, in March 2025, according to the SSU, an FSB agent was detained in the Kharkiv region who, under the guise of “volunteer” aid, provided a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier with medicine and food to which she had added poison.

Another Russian agent sent a soldier a bottle of drink to which she had added a lethal dose of “methadone.” She then suggested that he drink it during an online video call.

“SSU officers acted preemptively and intercepted the package containing the drink in a timely manner. Chemical analysis confirmed the presence of toxic substances in the bottle that could have led to fatal consequences,” the security service reported.

Also, in early 2026, counterintelligence detained an FSB hitman who attempted to stab a serviceman to death in Zaporizhzhia.

The Ukrainian soldier was lured to an industrial zone in the city under the pretense of a “date” with a woman from a dating site. However, instead of her, a hitman wearing a balaclava appeared, attacked the soldier from behind, and stabbed him six times in the neck, chest, abdomen, and right leg.

The Security Service detained the attacker and identified the woman who, acting on orders from the FSB, had been communicating with the victim via a fake account and lured him to the site of the planned assassination attempt.

In late July, the SSU reported the detention of FSB agents who attempted to eliminate several dozen Ukrainian soldiers by organizing a “charity” party for them.