‘Traitor’ official accused of being Russian collaborator is led away by Ukrainian special forces

A Ukrainian village councillor has been arrested by elite special forces after she was accused of being a Russian collaborator.

Nadiya Antonova, from Kutuzivka near Kharkiv, was swarmed by Alpha Force troops and secret intelligence agents who led her away in handcuffs – and she now faces life behind bars.

The secretary of the local council is accused of betraying her country’s defenders by giving away the identities of police, soldiers and counter-terrorism specialists to Putin‘s invaders.

She passed on the identities of local hunters and park rangers whose countryside knowledge made them ideal fighters, prosecutors said. 

It is claimed Antonova also forced villagers to wear white armbands to signal support for the Russians who wear white and orange armbands as opposed to Ukraine’s yellow, green and blue. 

Nadiya Antonova has been arrested by elite special forces after she was accused of being a Russian collaborator

The village councillor was swarmed by Alpha Force troops and secret intelligence agents who led her away in handcuffs – and she now faces life behind bars

The special forces swooped in on the woman in an unmarked car once the village had been liberated by Ukraine.

She was found cowering in the basement of a shelled government building, The Sun reported.

The councillor was read her rights under martial law and led past her neighbours as she shouted: ‘Traitor! You think you’ve found a traitor? Shame on you. I was here the whole time. How do you think we lived here?’

Kharkiv’s governor Oleh Syniegubov said: ‘According to the investigation, Nadiya Antonova sided with the invaders in the village of Kutuzivka. She established cooperation with the head of the Russian military, with the call sign Knight.

The secretary of the local council is accused of betraying her country’s defenders by giving away the identities of police, soldiers and counter-terrorism specialists

‘Antonova handed over anti-terrorist operatives, environmental protection veterans, hunters and law enforcement officers, and forced locals to wear white armbands.’

Another official, Eduard Konovalov, was also detained after a raid in Staryi Saltiv in the east of Ukraine. 

The council chairman is accused of providing housing to Russian troops and encouraging Ukrainians not to resist.

For ‘treason under martial law’, both he and Antonov face up to life in prison. 

Olexandr Filchakov, Kharkiv’s chief prosecutor, said the region has one of the biggest treason caseloads in the country.

The special forces swooped in on the woman in an unmarked car once the village had been liberated by Ukraine

It shares a border with Russia and many residents have family links across the divide.

Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that traitors face exile or jail, saying last month: ‘It is necessary to punish collaborators.

‘The future of Ukraine directly depends on the strength of our resistance in all its forms.

‘The future of us all, each of our cities, each of our villages.

‘And I am grateful to everyone who understands this, who does not stop resisting even when it seems that the result is very far.

‘Because the darkest time is always before dawn.’