Europol issued a press release today that begins:
In an unprecedented effort, law enforcement and judicial authorities from seven countries have joined forces with Europol and Eurojust to dismantle and apprehend in Ukraine key figures behind significant ransomware operations wreaking havoc across the world. The operation comes at a critical time, as the country grapples with the challenges of Russia’s military aggression against its territory.
On 21 November, 30 properties were searched in the regions of Kyiv, Cherkasy, Rivne and Vinnytsia, resulting in the arrest of the 32-year-old ringleader. Four of the ringleader’s most active accomplices were also detained.
More than 20 investigators from Norway, France, Germany and the United States were deployed to Kyiv to assist the Ukrainian National Police with their investigative measures. This set-up was mirrored from Europol’s headquarters in the Netherlands where a virtual command post was activated to immediately analyse the data seized during the house searches in Ukraine.
This latest action follows a first round of arrests in 2021 in the framework of the same investigation. Since then, a number of operational sprints have been organised at Europol and in Norway with the aim of forensically analysing the devices seized in Ukraine in 2021. This forensic follow-up work facilitated the identification of the suspects targeted during the action last week in Kyiv.
Read more at Europol.