British spies use gay dating app Grindr to track Vladimir Putin's soldiers

British intelligence services helped to monitor the Russian invasion of Ukraine by tracking the soldiers' use of social networking sites – including the gay dating app Grindr.

As Russian forces mobilised on the Ukraine border, UK spies grew increasingly certain that Vladimir Putin was planning a full invasion after tapping into messages exchanged on sites such as VKontakte, known as VK for short, which is the Russian equivalent of Facebook.

A source said secrets were also shared on dating sites such as Grindr. Putin banned homosexual 'propaganda' in 2013, but the app is still used discreetly, even in the military.

The source said: 'These sites were a treasure trove for our spies, and the dating apps in particular – soldiers and those involved in the military effort were particularly unguarded. It meant we were very au fait with the plans and the imminence of the invasion, right down to details such as the movement of blood supplies to the Russian troops.'

The source added that the amount – and the quality – of the intelligence shared with the Ukrainians was highly unusual.

'We are basically giving them unexpurgated access to our intelligence to help them as best we can, only keeping back details to protect sources and to disguise some of our methods.'