Russia’s Armed Aggression Against Ukraine And Role Of Ukrainian Military Intelligence

At the current stage of warfare, the role and weight of all types of intelligence are growing significantly, and the Russian-Ukrainian war is no exception to this rule. Therefore, Ukrainian military intelligence (hereinafter referred to as the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine) has broad capabilities to fulfil its mission in modern warfare.

Currently, the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has an impressive list of victories over the aggressor, such as fire damage to strategic military and energy targets deep in Russian territory.

In addition, the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has many secret victories, both near the border and thousands of kilometres from the contact line, which we will be able to hear about only after the end of the war.

A simple analysis of the costs and benefits of these operations compared to trench warfare indicates a successful change in the Ukrainian victory strategy.

But already today, it is possible to remember some successful operations that were carried out by representatives of the famous units of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.

At the beginning of the full-scale war, the 10th detachment of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine met the enemy at the airport in Gostomel, where they did not allow the creation of a bridgehead for the capture of Kyiv. Units of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine participated in the assault and clearing of occupied settlements, and active battles for the Kyiv region, and carried out sabotage, reconnaissance and corrective actions.

In March 2022, the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine took part in helicopter raids on Azovstal, there were a total of 7 flights, in which 16 Mi-8 helicopters of the army aviation were involved, the evacuation of 64 wounded and the landing of reinforcements of 72 volunteers and 30 tons of cargo were carried out.

In the Kharkiv counteroffensive, a major role was played by the “Kraken” unit of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, which in the period from March to the end of September 2022 took part in the liberation of about 25 settlements in the Kharkiv region and one in the Luhansk region. In January 2023, the regiment took part in battles for Soledar, and in March 2023 – for Bakhmut.

On July 7, 2022, fighters of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, together with the 73rd MCSO, 801st OPPPZ and engineers of the 59th brigade, landed with the help of boats on Zmiiny Island and installed the state flag on it.

In July 2022, an operation was carried out to free five hostages in the Kherson region, then the fighters of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine penetrated the enemy’s rear, freed the hostages and returned.

On the night of January 23-24, 2023, soldiers of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine conducted an intelligence raid crossing the Dnipro River in the Nova Kakhovka area. With the help of local partisans and technical means, the fighters discovered the advanced control post. Scouts destroyed the house in which the enemy command post was located with grenade launcher shots. Perceiving the landing as an attempt to break through the defence line, the Russian occupiers immediately mobilized combat reserves: a unit of special operations forces, aviation and armoured vehicles. During the battle, 12 occupants and an 82A armored personnel carrier were destroyed and a prisoner was captured. Having completed the task, the group returned to the right bank of the Dnipro.
In addition to such “high-profile” operations of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine constantly performs other, but no less important, intelligence, sabotage and combat tasks, about which there is no information in the mass media. Also, even during the war, the Ministry of Defenсe of Ukraine continues to help Ukrainian citizens abroad. Thus, on March 17, 2023, the GUR of the Ministry of Defenсe of Ukraine announced the release of 8 Ukrainian citizens, six of whom are children, from Syrian captivity, and on April 26, it announced the evacuation of 138 people, 87 of whom are citizens of Ukraine, from the capital of Sudan.

The GUR of the Ministry of Defenсe of Ukraine is actively involved in negotiation processes and ensuring the exchange of prisoners of war. In general, since the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, with the assistance of the Ministry of Defenсe of Ukraine, 3,135 defenders of Ukraine have been freed from Russian captivity.

On August 9, 2023, representatives of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine successfully conducted the operation “Synytsia” regarding the flight of the Russian military transport helicopter Mi-8АМТШ to the territory of Ukraine.

On November 30, 2023, an explosion occurred in the Severomuysky tunnel of the Baikal-Amur highway – the only way of railway communication between the Russian Federation and China. This connection supplied fuel, rockets and artillery shells from North Korea and China to the Russian army. This is more than 4,000 miles on the territory of Russia. A few days after the tunnel was destroyed, another explosion blew out a bridge across a deep gorge on the tunnel’s only bypass road. Both explosions destroyed shipments of military jet fuel and temporarily disabled transportation routes.

On the night of January 4, 2024, a Su-34 tactical bomber (cost – $50 million) burned down at the Shagol airfield in Chelyabinsk, Russia. It was a special operation of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. Chelyabinsk is more than 1,300 miles from the front line.

Also, drones of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine systematically attack fuel and energy facilities on the territory of Russia, as a result of which production plants and fuel storage tanks are destroyed.

It should be noted separately that thanks to effective interaction with patriotic representatives of civil society and the media community, the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine received more than 100 gigabytes of classified data in early January 2024 from the Russian company “Special Technology Center” LLC, the value of which is more than 1.5 billion US dollars and contains documentation for 194 nomenclature units of weapons and military equipment. Its facilities produce military equipment and machinery used by the Russian army in the war against Ukraine. In particular, the “Special Technology Center” manufactures UAV “Orlan” of various modifications, as well as a whole range of electronic warfare and intelligence equipment and other military products.

In January 2024, in three regions of Russia, representatives of the resistance movement burned several relay boxes on the railway and other objects and paralyzed the movement of trains. “Unknown opponents of Putin’s regime once again burned several relay boxes on the railway and other facilities used for the logistics of the occupying terrorist forces. The events took place in the districts of the cities of Saratov, Yaroslavl and Dzerzhynsk of the Nyzhny Novgorod Region,” the official statement of the State Government of Ukraine states. As a result, traffic on these railway sections of the central part of Russia was paralyzed.

On January 14, 2024, a powerful explosion rang out on Gogol Street in temporarily occupied Melitopol. “As a result of a special measure carried out by the forces of the Ukrainian resistance, the UAZ Patriot car of the Russian invaders was blown up, four occupants were injured,” the message said.

Also, specialists of GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine systematically and successfully conduct cyber operations against the Russian occupiers. Yes, only at the beginning of 2024, at least three large-scale cyber attacks were carried out, including:
On January 27, 2024, cyber specialists of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine destroyed the entire IT infrastructure of the company “IPL Consulting”, which helped in the implementation of information systems in Russian industry, and also provided services to institutions engaged in the design, production of automobile and aviation components, heavy engineering, and equipment production and devices, in particular in the interests of the defence and industrial complex of the Russian Federation.

On January 30, 2024, the server of the Ministry of Defense of the aggressor state, which was used for special communications, went down as a result of a cyber attack by the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. As a result of the cyber attack, the exchange of information between the units of the Russian Federation deployed in Moscow was stopped. At the same time, it should be noted that the software on the attacked server was certified by the FSB of the Russian Federation as meeting state information protection standards.

On February 8, 2024, as a result of a cyber attack by the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, the work of the program that the Russians used for the so-called “flashing” and control of drones of the “DJI” brand was put down. The program allowed drone operators to set up remote controls, capture video, transmit a picture to the command post, and control the drone directly from a computer. Also, through web servers, the program ensured the functioning of the “local-foreign” system, which determined whether the drone belonged to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

An important component in the performance of intelligence tasks is the ability of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine to carry out the tasks of conducting radio-electronic intelligence (hereinafter – REE). Today, there are three regional radio-electronic intelligence centres, as well as the radio-electronic intelligence of the Air Force and the Navy of Ukraine, under the command of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. The centres are designed to conduct radio-electronic intelligence at a strategic level.

Obtaining intelligence information about the enemy by intercepting and analyzing the radiation of his radio-electronic means with the use of special technical devices allows specialists of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine to monitor the activities of enemy units in real-time, as well as to identify the places of their deployment and provides the possibility of accurate attacks on them.

The GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine uses unmanned surface vehicles for attacks on Russian ships and coastal structures. In particular, “Magura” belongs to such unmanned vehicles. Thus, on February 14, 2024, Ukrainian forces destroyed the large Russian amphibious assault ship Caesar Kunikov in the Black Sea near Alupka in the annexed Crimea.

During the week, special officers of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine as part of the Security and Defence Forces defended the last road from Avdiyivka, inflicting colossal losses on the constantly advancing assault units of the Russians. Within the framework of the order on the coordinated withdrawal of the main forces, the special forces of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine together with the soldiers of the SDF, the 3rd separate assault brigade, the 225th separate assault battalion, and the 110th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine secured the evacuation corridor.

The events of the Russian-Ukrainian war clearly demonstrated the role played by Ukraine’s military intelligence in ensuring the national interests of our state. It does not advertise its achievements, and our descendants will be able to learn about all its achievements and results of activity in decades from those documents that will become available after the expiration of the statute of limitations and the lifting of the seal of secrecy.

In the conditions of an asymmetric war with the enemy, which is significantly greater in number and quantity of weapons and military equipment, military intelligence performs many additional tasks on which success on the battlefield depends.

A number of operations of Ukrainian military intelligence, according to the estimates of the world’s leading military analysts, were implemented by special intelligence units at the limit of physical and real capabilities.

In Ukraine, as in all democratic countries, there is a system of parliamentary control over intelligence activities, so intelligence operates within the limits of national legislation and international law, which certainly limits its capabilities.