Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)

Force in Play

Conducting deep-strike operations 1,600km inside Russia; expanding chemical and energy infrastructure targeting

Since early December 2025, the war has featured intensified winter ground operations in Kharkiv and Donetsk alongside massive drone and missile campaigns targeting each side's war economies. Russia's February 16-17 barrage of 425 drones and 29 missiles coincided with Geneva trilateral talks that concluded February 18 with limited military progress but no political breakthroughs on territorial compromises or security guarantees—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy deemed outcomes 'not sufficient' and called for a follow-up meeting later in February. Ukraine responded with deep strikes, including the February 21 hit on Votkinsk missile plant 1,300 km inside Russia using indigenous cruise missiles, while reporting marginal advances in central Kupyansk as of February 19.

Updated Feb 21

Force in Play

Officially denied involvement in Alekseyev shooting; accused by FSB of orchestrating attack

Since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a campaign of assassinations has targeted its military elite in Moscow. On February 6, 2026, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev—first deputy head of Russian military intelligence (GRU), accused of masterminding the 2018 Salisbury nerve agent attack—was shot three times in his apartment building by an attacker posing as a delivery person. He underwent emergency surgery, regained consciousness on February 7, and stabilized under intensive care. Russia's FSB detained three suspects: Lyubomir Korba, a 65-year-old Russian citizen extradited from Dubai whom the FSB claims confessed to SBU recruitment; Viktor Vasin, detained in Moscow; and Zinaida Serebritskaya, who fled to Ukraine. Kyiv has officially denied involvement.

Updated Feb 13

Force in Play

Leading Ukraine's deep-strike operations

At dawn on June 1, 2025, Ukraine's Security Service pulled off the largest covert drone strike in history. One hundred seventeen drones, smuggled into Russia inside fake shipping containers and hidden in truck cabs, launched from five locations spanning five time zones. They hit five Russian air bases simultaneously, destroying or damaging 41 strategic bombers—including irreplaceable Soviet-era Tu-95s and Tu-22M3s—worth $7 billion. The unwitting truck drivers thought they were hauling prefab houses. One died in the explosions. Four were arrested by the FSB.

Updated Jan 11

Force in Play

Conducting assassination operations against Russian military leadership

On December 28, President Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy projected cautious optimism at Mar-a-Lago, announcing 90% agreement on a revised 20-point peace framework—but the next day Russia claimed Ukraine attacked Putin's residence with drones, a charge Kyiv denies as fabricated to sabotage talks. The alleged attack crystallizes the fragility of negotiations: even as diplomats inch toward compromise, the shadow war continues and Moscow weaponizes accusations to "toughen" its bargaining position. Nearly four years after invasion, the question isn't whether a deal is close—it's whether either side can stop fighting long enough to sign one.

Updated Dec 31, 2025

Force in Play

Primary Ukrainian intelligence service

A car bomb killed Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov in southern Moscow on December 22, 2025—the latest in a series of targeted assassinations of Russian military officials. Sarvarov, who headed the training department within Russia's general staff, was blown up in the capital city itself, a brazen escalation of Ukraine's shadow war behind Russian lines. Two days later, another bombing in the same Moscow district killed two police officers and the attacker, raising questions about whether the incidents are connected.

Updated Dec 25, 2025