The special operation lasted from August 6 to August 8, 2016. A group of five special forces officers, led by the current chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, landed on the western coast of Crimea, occupied by russia. The purpose of the landing operation was to deliver weapons and explosives to a specially prepared location near russian military facilities, which russia could use in case of full-scale aggression against Ukraine. Indeed, this happened on February 24, 2022.

The weapons abandoned on the occupied peninsula were intended for Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups operating covertly in Crimea. According to the plan, in the event of a full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian agents were to use the hidden weapons to carry out sabotage at russian military facilities.

In the course of the special operation, Kyrylo Budanov’s group was exposed through the detention by russian side of a Ukrainian agent who was passing on information. However, he managed to warn the Ukrainian special forces men about the threat. The russia’s fsb officers arrived at the location where a group of Ukrainian reconnaissance men were supposed to go to plant the weapons, but instead the FSB representatives themselves fell into an ambush.

According to the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov’s group engaged in combat with enemy special service members, during which Colonel fsb Roman Kameniev and Sergeant Semen Sychov were successfully eliminated. Several other fsb officers were wounded. Kyrylo Budanov’s group left the peninsula without losses.