The Ukrainian honeytrappers persuading Russian soldiers to reveal all

Meet the young Ukrainian women who use dating apps to trick Vladimir Putin’s lonely troops — and draw out clues that could help Kyiv win the war against Russia.

AI-generated profile images shared by the women on dating apps have been used to attract dozens of unwitting Russians. Picture: The Times

She devotes two hours each day to flirting with a man she hates, hoping it will hasten his demise. In return, he sends his musings on women’s underwear, videos of him interrogating her captured countrymen and pictures of their corpses.

Occasionally though, Angelina – not her real name – receives something more useful. A photo of a military passport, revealing clues about a unit. A video of an amorous soldier driving and singing, giving away his location. Or shocked appeals for sympathy after the death of a comrade, demonstrating an accurate Ukrainian strike.

Her AI-generated profile pictures, visible across dating apps targeting men in occupied border areas, have lured dozens of desperate Russian soldiers into her honeytrap since President Putin’s invasion began.

“We’re looking for information about numbers of troops, information on the amount of military equipment, the success or lack of success of some attacks, their problems with food and equipment,” she explains as she and her colleague Masha - also a pseudonym - busily swipe left to reject men in civilian clothes and right to attract men in uniform.

The women, both in their twenties, work for Molfar, a Ukrainian risk assessment and analysis firm that has redirected much of its efforts to supporting the war effort since the invasion in February last year.

Russian soldier Maxim Korneev. who revealed that he was responsible for training mobilised soldiers after speaking with Ukrainian women on a dating app.

Some of their virtual relationships with soldiers stuck in the trenches have lasted as long as a year, providing a wealth of information that they pass on to be used by the Ukrainian military. Neither has any sympathy for the Russian servicemen that they feign affection for.

“They come to my country, they want to kill my people, they want to destroy our nationality, they don’t want Ukrainians to exist,” Angelina says. “Even if they don’t believe in this Russian war, they are ready to do all this for money – why should I care about people that want to kill me?”

Angelina is slight and softly spoken. She seems out of place harvesting the horrors of war and helping to visit death and destruction in return. Yet she is smart, articulate and

determined, and for her the war is personal.

“My brother fought and he died at the beginning of the war,” she says. Her eyes brim with tears, but she does not let them fall to her face. “I think everybody in Ukraine has friends and relatives that have passed. My father is fighting now.”

Angelina says that she will show me photographs sent by bragging Russian troops in their clumsy attempts at romance. I brace myself for the types of revealing photograph that so often plague women’s online dating accounts.

Instead, there is the bloodied body of a Ukrainian soldier sprawled across a trench. Another is bound and blindfolded as he is berated by one of Angelina’s suitors. It is difficult to imagine how hard it must be for the sister of a dead serviceman to process, let alone respond as though impressed.

Russian soldier Sergei Nikonov, who communicated often with women on a dating app who had the aim of attracting unwitting Russians.

For the awkward Russian soldiers that end up in the women’s trap, these are demonstrations of military prowess that should leave them weak at the knees. Often they are followed by lurid messages.

“We tend not to bother with the horny ones,” says Masha. “The more horny he is, the less likely he is to talk about anything else.” Many soldiers end their communication when messages and the odd phone call are not enough to satiate their desires, she adds. Officers are generally too smart to be fooled, but there are plenty of young privates ready to pledge undying affection while they still can. “Some of them are really desperate and become so in love with us that they ask us to marry them in a few days or in a few weeks,” Masha says, laughing.

The women joke about how stupid their “orcs” are and how they constantly reveal information about the state of the Russian army without realising. “I chatted with Maxim Korneev for a couple of months, this simple guy with a round face. He makes loads of mistakes in his messages – it’s unusual to meet someone who writes like this who is not a child,” Angelina says with a snort.

“He was responsible for training, he went on trips to train mobilised soldiers in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. He told me that army benefits had actually been cut since the start of the war, rather than increased [as Putin says].”

Another suitor of Angelina’s AI avatar, Charem, told her that he had been a policeman and only joined the Russian army to escape his Muslim father’s pressure to get married. Screenshots of their chats show how he offered to marry her and win her compensation for his deliberately getting wounded. Charem even introduced her to his sister, and the pair chatted there. Apparently shy, he was in no hurry to meet up. He told her that he was in Kherson and had been wounded.

Russian soldier Charem who revealed that he had been a policeman and only joined the Russian army to escape his Muslim father’s pressure to get married.

On the other end of the spectrum, soldiers such as Timur Aybazov are eager to meet and consummate the virtual relationship, forcing the women to deploy various excuses for why they are unavailable. The intent behind an initial romantic offer to whisk Angelina away to Moscow is soon revealed by subsequent messages.

“Timur was quite boastful and it was often difficult to tell whether he was lying. He told me he was fired from the army after he set free two Ukrainian girls who were prisoners of war,” Angelina says. She ended their virtual relationship after learning that he had left the army.

Sometimes it is the soldiers who end the chats when they become suspicious, the women say. On other occasions they terminate more abruptly, particularly as Ukraine intensifies its counteroffensive in the country’s south.

Russian soldier Timur Aybazov who revealed that he had been fired from the army after he set free two Ukrainian girls who were prisoners of war.

“I had some situations where my orcs stopped replying after I passed on some information, but I can’t say if it’s connected,” Angelina says. “I hope what we do means something bad happens to them. “Sergei [Nikonov] for example, I think he died - we communicated often, he was very proactive, he was in Zaporizhzhia and the last thing he told us was about attacks on his position by Ukrainian forces.”

The Russians are learning, though, and orders restricting smartphone use have become more strict. Angelina and Masha are finding it harder to find suitable men.

That is a situation that the two, past veterans of genuine online dating, had hoped they would never find themselves in. “I’ve had a boyfriend for a very long time,” Angelina says before breaking into a wide smile. “It was my great hope to never have to go back to online dating.”

The Times