Inside Russia’s growing army of ‘disposable’ civilian agents recruited on Telegram
Russia is increasingly recruiting civilians to conduct terror attacks
Ukraine has a growing problem that is difficult to solve. The Kremlin is using social media, namely Telegram, to recruit Ukrainian civilians to carry out terror attacks. In wartime, with the economy in a challenging state, people are easily tempted to make a quick buck.
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And with the internet and access to messaging platforms such as Telegram, it’s easier than ever for foreign intelligence services to recruit civilians to carry out missions. Both Russia and Ukraine have used this tactic throughout the war. Early in the war, Ukrainian scammers convinced older Russian pensioners to firebomb Russian military offices.
The most recent high-profile example involved a 69-year-old Ukrainian man from Kharkiv who was fed AI-generated images portraying a Ukrainian commander as a Russian collaborator. His Russian handler then arranged for him to receive a pistol, which he attempted to use to assassinate the commander. But the weapon failed to fire, and he was unable to carry out the attack.
According to Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, Russian intelligence recruitment is driven largely by money rather than ideology. “The foundation is poverty,” he said, adding that Ukrainian officials called recruits the “$300 people” because $300 was a standard recruitment price. “If $300 is a lot for someone, nothing you can do. Someone will always take the money.”
In March 2025, two teenagers in Ivano-Frankivsk were recruited on Telegram with promises of easy money. They planted a bomb on instructions from their handler, and one was killed while the other was injured.
“Civilians taking part in warfare and being affected by it is nothing new. This war, being a total war, is definitely no exception,” said Volodymyr Dubovyk, a professor of international relations at Odesa’s Mechnikov National University. “Social media and various messengers simplify the job of recruiting and getting in touch with networks of agents.”
In August, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said it uncovered a 14-person network collecting intelligence on Ukrainian military aviation.
A Lviv resident who ran an aviation Telegram channel was allegedly recruited by Russian military intelligence and then enlisted 13 followers to photograph airfields, aircraft and personnel, while recording takeoff and landing times. The SBU said the intelligence could help Russia target airfields operating F-16 and Mirage 2000 fighter jets.
There have been multiple cases where Russia has attempted to use children to conduct suicide bombings without their knowledge. Ukrainian police say that in 90% of cases, financial incentives are involved. Online job boards are therefore an easy place to find potential recruits, lured by promises of easy money.
The Kremlin believes the use of these “one-time agents,” recruited via Telegram to be effective, and their use has only continued to grow.
“Russia exploits a wider range of vulnerabilities which have intersections across poverty, fear, resentment, addiction, online anonymity and the realities of a Ukrainian society under incredible stress,” said Ed Bogan, a former CIA officer.
Attribution is another problem, and one reason Russia recruits Ukrainian citizens to carry out attacks abroad in Europe. These aren’t Russians carrying out the attacks, so local hatred can instead grow against Ukrainians when Ukrainian citizens are implicated.
Some may be loyal to Moscow, while others may simply want the money because they’ve fallen on hard times. But recruitment also extends anywhere the Kremlin can find willing partners, including countries such as Serbia and Bulgaria.
“Russia views, and has always viewed, source operations through a different prism than we typically do in the US mindset,” said Bogan. “We think of the deep penetration of some sensitive institution, met infrequently in some back alley, passing the most secret of secret information to a handler.”
Bogan added, “Russians will do that as well, but they also replace suitability with utility far more than we would, and as a result end up with a far wider pool of categories of actors they would utilize.”
In effect, Russia's comfort with the idea of disposability goes much further than what the West would be comfortable with. This strategy of easily disposing of agents gives the Kremlin a wide pool of people to choose from, as some may think they are simply carrying out paid errands.
“The Russians don't need every agent to be reliable or ideologically aligned, they may need just one data point from them, which gets layered into a broader mix,” said Bogan. “Or they need one act of vandalism, to exploit separately online.”
Counterintelligence operations become more difficult when trying to pre-emptively stop. “At the same time, it probably makes it less difficult in many instances to figure out what happened after the fact, and even identify the culprits and disrupt them,” added Bogan.
Taken together, Moscow’s use of disposable agents and attempts to recruit children as bombers will likely continue to grow. It’s a low-risk strategy aimed at sowing chaos in Ukrainian society and across Europe.
Telegram is also deeply embedded in Ukrainian society, and attempts to restrict its use haven’t gained much traction. Greater action is needed to stop Russian terrorism, and the best answer may simply be to increase pressure on Russia’s leadership to end its campaign of terror.
David Kirichenko is a war correspondent and researcher specialising in irregular warfare and military strategy and is reporting from Ukraine.