Overview
- Russia’s FSB published audio aired on Rossiya‑24 that it says captures a Ukrainian GUR operative instructing a Russian pilot on how to fly off with a MiG‑31 carrying a Kinzhal missile.
- Operational video and chat screenshots released by the FSB show a recruiter flaunting stacks of cash, offering $3 million, and promising perks such as relocation help and a celebratory beer in Munich.
- The FSB alleges the plan was to steer the jet toward the area of a NATO airbase in Romania’s Constanța where it could be shot down by air defenses.
- Following the announcement, Russian authorities said their forces struck the GUR’s main radio‑electronic reconnaissance center and Ukraine’s Starokonstantinov airfield with Kinzhal missiles.
- Russian lawmakers praised the FSB’s actions, while accusations naming British intelligence and Bellingcat‑linked figures remain publicly unverified and drew no comment from Ukraine or the UK in the cited reports.