The maritime operations of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine have already gone down in the history of the struggle of the Ukrainian people against russian invaders. Special operations on liberation of Zmiinyi Island, destruction of warships of the russian black sea fleet, landing in Crimea – these are the tasks that seemed to be impossible to accomplish, however, Ukrainian intelligence officers demonstrated extraordinary professionalism, superhuman endurance, courage and even creativity. And it was the success of the operations at sea that made it possible to completely liberate Odesa region from the occupants and significantly reduce Russian attacks on peaceful cities of Ukraine from the sea.

“Last year was a truly remarkable year for Ukraine in terms of maritime advancement. Ukraine has largely pushed back the enemy, forced the aggressor’s fleet to retreat and hide in the corners, to retreat from Crimea,” said Andrii Yusov, a representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, in a documentary project “GUR. The Battle for the Sea. All Roads Lead to Crimea” of the national telethon “We Are Ukraine”.

He considers the liberation of Zmiinyi Island to be one of the most significant operations.

“This is a security issue not only for Ukraine, it is an additional security guarantee for Moldova, for example. This is the impossibility of conducting various kinds of provocations, landing operations [in russia]. It was a geopolitical event without exaggeration,” Andrii Yusov emphasised.

He noted that having heard about new ideas and plans regarding operations by Ukrainian intelligence, no one doubts that it can be done.

“The aggressor really clung to Zmiinyi Island to the last. But they suffered enormous losses; personnel, equipment, boats were destroyed... They did not have time to flee, taking everything they needed with them. Ammunitions and expensive equipment remained, all of these were got to the Ukrainians,” said Andrii Yusov.