Inside the shadowy world of anti-Putin sabotage from within Russia

A Russian man identified only as Ivan has shared videos of surveillance work he says he carried out inside Russia for Ukraine's intelligence services. He says he played a role in Ukrainian drone attacks on strategic bombers and munitions factories on Russian territory. The material appears in a documentary about the covert world of Russian saboteurs.

Ivan was cautious about how much detail he revealed, and the available material says it is not possible to verify the activities he claims to have carried out. The documentary also says he features alongside another man who says he runs a network of undercover volunteers in Russia. Both accounts are presented as part of a wider picture of covert operations linked to the war.

The claims matter because they point to the intelligence and sabotage dimension of the conflict beyond the front line. They also underline how Ukraine has described its use of secret agents and drone attacks against targets inside Russia. What remains unclear is the scale of the damage from the operations described, and how much of the account can be independently checked.

Two Russian men who say they have secretly worked for Ukraine's intelligence services have described rare details of alleged sabotage and reconnaissance operations inside Russia. One of the men, identified only as Ivan, says he helped support Ukrainian drone attacks on strategic bombers and munitions factories on Russian territory. The other, called Foma, says he runs a network of undercover volunteers in Russia who monitor senior officers that Ukraine's military intelligence service, the GUR, may consider targeting.

The accounts were presented in a documentary by an independent Polish journalist and focus on operations that the men say were carried out from inside Russia and from exile in Poland. According to the report, the GUR has confirmed that both men work for the agency, while also saying it cannot know the full picture. The documentary says the men were cautious about what they would reveal, and that their claims could not be independently verified in full.

Foma said his network does not take part in attacks themselves, but gathers information on potential targets. He also said he had provided intelligence on Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov before the senior Russian officer was killed in Moscow in December last year by an explosive device hidden under his car. The report says this was one of several political assassinations in Russia since the start of the war, although it does not attribute responsibility for the killing.

The accounts matter because they point to the wider covert dimension of the war between Russia and Ukraine, beyond the front line. Ukraine has publicly spoken of a strategy involving co-ordinated drone attacks on what it describes as legitimate targets inside Russia, and it has acknowledged using secret agents for that purpose. The documentary adds a rare first-hand perspective on how such operations may be organised, even though the details remain difficult to verify.

The report also highlights the risks and limits of intelligence work in wartime. Ivan's handler is quoted as saying, when asked whether he could be trusted: "I am not sure of anyone, except myself." That remark underlines the secrecy surrounding the network and the difficulty of confirming who is involved, what they know, and how much influence they have over events on the ground. Previous media reports have described Russian sabotage groups, but direct access to people claiming to operate inside the system is unusual.

The documentary suggests that the GUR relies on a mix of covert agents and local volunteers, while keeping operational details tightly controlled. It also reflects the broader pattern of targeted attacks and assassinations that have accompanied the conflict since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. What remains unclear is the extent of the damage caused by the operations described, how many people are involved, and how much of the account can be independently checked.

It is also not possible from the available material to confirm the full chain of command or the precise role of each participant. Further disclosures from either side could shed more light on how these covert networks function and how central they are to Ukraine's campaign inside Russia.

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