Overview

• Ukraine’s Security Service arrest of both suspects on July 9 follows an investigation into attempts to smuggle classified RK-360MC Neptune missile documents to China.
• The 24-year-old son, expelled from a Kyiv university in 2023, was formally charged with espionage on June 26 and remains in pre-trial custody.
• Prosecutors say the father reentered Ukraine on July 7, visited the Chinese embassy on July 8 and coordinated his son’s activities through contacts in China’s military intelligence.
• Both face up to 15 years in prison under Ukraine’s espionage statutes as authorities pursue an active probe into the network.
• The Neptune system’s role in sinking the Russian cruiser Moskva has made its design a high-value target and intensified diplomatic friction between Kyiv and Beijing.