Shadowmen: Russians working with Ukraine

Two Russian men secretly working for Ukraine’s intelligence services give rare accounts of operations they claim to have been involved with, to target military assets and personnel inside Russia.

One man, Ivan - not his real name - spent two years texting with and meeting Polish journalist Marcin Mamon. He describes himself as a Russian patriot but wants to bring down Putin’s government. He says that helping Ukraine win the war could achieve that aim.

Ivan shares the spycraft behind Ukrainian attacks on strategic bombers, and munitions factories, in Russia, and sends Mamon videos of his activities from inside the country.

Over two years, Mamon establishes that Ivan is working for Ukraine - but can he be trusted? Mamon is taken into the shadow war between Ukrainian and Russian intelligence services, a world of agents and double agents, where the lines between being a patriot and traitor blur.

Another operative Mamon meets is Foma, not his real name, exiled in Poland, who runs a network of volunteers in Russia who surveil high-level officers that the GUR - Ukraine’s military intelligence service - is tracking. When a General is assassinated in December 2025, Foma confirms he was one of the individuals his team has tracked.

The GUR confirm to Mamon that Ivan and Foma are working for them. It is impossible, however, to verify the activities they claim to have carried out because they have been cautious about how much detail they share.