Ukrainian resistance fighters are reportedly using fake romantic identities online to extract battlefield information from Russian soldiers, turning one of the oldest forms of human deception into a tool for modern drone warfare.
As detailed in a report by The Atlantic, Ukrainian fighters have allegedly posed as lonely women online, slowly building relationships with Russian soldiers in hopes of getting them to reveal useful information about their units and locations. That information has led to Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian positions.
One case described in the report involved a Ukrainian military-intelligence officer named Serhiy, who pretended to be a 35-year-old housewife trapped in a cold marriage. Over several months, “she” exchanged WhatsApp messages with a Chechen commander named Achmad, who was stationed somewhere in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine.
The messages were not immediately about war. They were ordinary and intimate. They talked about their days, their frustrations, and what they hoped life might look like when the fighting ended. Then, gradually, the fake housewife began asking about the front.
Achmad eventually sent a photo from inside the barracks, showing himself and another soldier smiling for the camera. Behind them, according to the report, was a map of the compound that showed the unit’s position.
The woman the commander thought he was speaking to did not exist. “She” was Serhiy, an officer working for Ukraine’s military-intelligence directorate. The coordinates revealed in the photo were later hit by a Ukrainian drone.
“Serhiy was great at flirting,” his commander told Harbaugh. “Guys in our team started asking him for dating advice.”
The episode depicts how Ukrainian fighters are reportedly using digital conversations to gather information Russian soldiers may not realize they are giving away. It also shows how a single photo can become useful intelligence when it reveals background details.
According to Harbaugh’s report, the Ukrainian agents involved in these efforts have little formal training. Their digital networks are also vulnerable to Russian interception. Still, they have reportedly relied on hard-copy tradecraft manuals, including a Soviet-era handbook describing CIA catfishing tactics in Africa during the Cold War.
“Your CIA was good at this,” one Ukrainian interviewed for the article told The Atlantic. “You bastards knew how to use sex.”
The reported tactic comes as Ukraine’s drone warfare capabilities have improved dramatically since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukrainian forces have been able to hit strategic targets hundreds of miles inside Russian territory, including oil refineries in Moscow earlier this month, according to the report.
For the Ukrainians interviewed by Harbaugh, the motivation was not abstract. They described murdered civilians and evidence of sexual assault they had witnessed during Russia’s invasion. One doctor said they had treated sexual assault victims ranging in age from 4 to 75, with injuries so severe that her facility had become a leader in new methods for gynecological reconstructive surgery.
The report points to the subtle role digital communication now plays in the war. For Ukrainian fighters, information can come not only from surveillance or military equipment, but from the small details Russian soldiers choose to share online.
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