Overview
- Published Oct. 16, 2026 reports, citing a Wall Street Journal investigation, say Lieutenant Lev Stupnikov secretly passed troop locations, radio frequencies and operational plans from Russia’s 36th Motor Rifle Brigade to Ukrainian handlers.
- The accounts say his tips helped Ukrainian forces strike multiple targets in early 2024, including a February training field where reporters attribute about 68 killed and 60 wounded and the death of Colonel Gusein Musayev.
- Between March and May 2024 he is reported to have enabled attacks on a brigade gathering, a hotel basement that killed about 20 soldiers, and a brigade command post by using access to commanders’ communications and timing.
- The reports say he sabotaged Russian surveillance and drone gear, handed Ukrainian forces a smartphone with access codes to live feeds, and then crossed to Ukrainian lines in July 2024 after his mother contacted an intermediary who linked him to Ukrainian intelligence.
- If true, the case shows how inside access to signals and credentialed feeds can multiply battlefield effects, raise suspicions inside units, and pose problems for Russia’s operational security while there is no public confirmation of the allegations from Russian authorities.