Ukraine’s online Mata Hari: Russian troops are being duped by woman, 18, using dating app to lure them into giving away their location in Ukraine by flirting with them

• Teenage girl goes on dating app posing as a Russian to track down enemy troops 
• One soldier sent her pictures from a boarding school used as a military base
• Another soldier even showed a mansion where he was guarding a senior officer

A teenage Ukrainian girl, forced by war to flee her home in Kherson, has revealed she went on a dating app posing as a Russian to track down enemy troops and expose where they were based.

She was so successful that one soldier boasted he was fighting to earn money for a luxury car and sent her pictures from a boarding school used as a military base. 

Another showed a mansion where he was guarding a senior officer.

Her exploits echo those of the First World War German spy Mata Hari, whose lovers in the top brass told her of the Allies’ new secret weapon, the tank.

But for Lisa – not her real name – her inspiration came from a girl on TikTok who had befriended a Russian soldier, asked where he was serving and passed the information to Ukraine’s army.

Eager to impress: Russian troops who told Lisa of their exploits. Typical was Ilgis Hafizov, 24, from western Russia, who was serving to save for his wedding but then broke up with his fiancée so decided to buy a car

The 18-year-old set up a fake profile on a dating app while under occupation in Kherson, saying she was a young Russian woman who liked military men. 

Soon she was chatting to lovelorn soldiers, who sent texts, videos and voicemails.

Typical was Ilgis Hafizov, 24, from western Russia, who was serving to save for his wedding but then broke up with his fiancée so decided to buy a car. ‘I’m saving up for a BMW,’ he bragged.

Lisa passed her information to investigative journalists from Slidstvo.info, who used internet data to identify locations.

Lisa, who fled from Kherson last month, said her life had been shattered by the invasion. ‘We left our native home and cannot return there now, but they are sitting there and fine,’ she said

‘They are all criminals because they crossed another country’s border with weapons,’ Lisa said. ‘They came to steal, to kill.’

A teenage member of the special forces, desperate to impress, even sent videos from Russian aircraft as they set off from an airfield, saying they were going on a raid to ‘drop the rockets’ and ‘kill khokhols [Russian slang for Ukrainians]’.

Nikolai Izmailov, 19, also took pictures posing with a row of helicopters parked behind him in occupied Kherson before ‘flying to the strikes’ in Odesa and Kharkiv.

‘Lisa’ said: ‘It makes me really angry when they tell me they are doing fine.’

Slidstvo.info also tracked down the ‘Golden Pheasant’ eco-mansion used by a top Russian officer after another foolish soldier – Daniil Lapyshev, from Sibera – sent her pictures and voicemails describing his unit’s location dug into bunkers in nearby woods.

Lisa, who fled from Kherson last month, said her life had been shattered by the invasion.

‘We left our native home and cannot return there now, but they are sitting there and fine,’ she said.

‘They are happy as if nothing bad is happening.’

Additional reporting: Kate Baklitskaya

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