Silent Victories: The Recent Accomplishments of Ukraine’s Security and Intelligence Services

As Ukraine continues a long-term full-scale war resisting the Russian Federation's attempts to occupy parts of the country, the country’s intelligence and security agencies—long overlooked in international assessments—have emerged as among the most effective and innovative in Europe. While battlefield developments dominate global headlines, a parallel war in the shadows has tilted the strategic balance in Ukraine’s favour. From strikes deep inside Russian territory to counterintelligence operations at home, Ukraine’s security apparatus has scored a string of remarkable successes, reflecting a transformation in capability, doctrine, and international cooperation.

A Reinvigorated Intelligence Architecture

Ukraine’s two principal intelligence organs, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR), have undergone a metamorphosis since 2014. After the Euromaidan Revolution and the Russian annexation of Crimea, both institutions faced acute crises of loyalty, capacity and infiltration. Over the past decade, with significant Western training and restructuring, they have shifted from post-Soviet bureaucracies into agile, decentralised, and technology-driven agencies.

The HUR, in particular, has played an outsized role in wartime operations, often operating autonomously and offensively in ways rarely seen in European intelligence services. The SBU has simultaneously reinforced its domestic role, countering Russian sabotage, espionage and disinformation networks across the country.

Strikes Deep in Russian Territory

Amongst the most visible accomplishments of Ukrainian intelligence are the spectacular cross-border sabotage and drone attacks. While Ukraine rarely claims responsibility, international observers widely attribute a growing number of deep strikes on Russian infrastructure to HUR operations. These include:

• Explosions on the Crimean Bridge (2022, 2023, 2025), likely the result of a combination of sabotage and maritime drone attacks, causing months of logistical disruption.

  
  

• Drone attacks on Moscow, including those that struck within the city’s financial district and temporarily shut down major airports, forcing the Kremlin to reposition air defences closer to the capital.

  
  

• Sabotage of oil refineries and fuel depots across southern Russia, including recent strikes in Tatarstan (1,000 kilometres east of Moscow) and Krasnodar Krai (in southern Russia), disrupting military fuel supply chains.

  
  

• Explosions on railway lines supplying the Russian military effort in occupied Ukraine, widely believed to be the result of special operations directed from within HUR’s special forces or with local partisan support.

These actions serve both tactical and strategic aims. They reduce Russia’s military capacity, raise domestic costs for the war, and serve as powerful symbols of Ukrainian reach and resilience.

Maritime and Cyber Frontiers

Ukraine’s intelligence services have also demonstrated notable innovation in two less visible theatres: maritime and cyber warfare.

• Naval Drone Operations, often directed by military intelligence and Ukraine’s special forces, have turned the Black Sea into contested space. The attack on the Russian landing ship Novocherkassk in occupied Crimea on 26 December 2023 and repeated damage to patrol vessels near in the Black Sea waters off Crimea have undermined Russia’s naval dominance in the region without Ukraine possessing a traditional navy. Indeed the Kremlin is known to have moved many of its naval assets up into Russian Rivers via the Sea of Azov to avoid vulnerability to these attacks.

  
  

• Cyber operations, coordinated by the SBU’s Cybersecurity Department and the Ministry of Digital Transformation, have delivered effective countermeasures against Russian disinformation, exposed pro-Kremlin online networks, and even conducted offensive operations. Recent leaks of Russian military planning and breaches of Wagner Group communications have been attributed to Ukrainian or allied cyber-espionage efforts.

Moreover Ukraine has pioneered the use of commercial technology in intelligence operations, including repurposed Starlink units, civilian drones, and open-source intelligence platforms, integrating them into real-time tactical and strategic decision-making.

Internal Security Successes

Domestically, the SBU has undergone a quiet but profound campaign of counterintelligence and internal security enforcement. This includes:

• Disruption of pro-Russian networks, including the arrest of former pro-Moscow politicians, journalists, and religious figures suspected of collaboration or espionage.

  
  

• Corruption investigations targeting wartime profiteering within government and military procurement structures, particularly in early 2023 and again in mid-2024.

  
  

• Protection of critical infrastructure from sabotage, including power plants, logistics hubs and transport systems, even under sustained missile and drone bombardment.

The SBU’s work has also helped to mitigate the destabilising effects of martial law, preserving social cohesion and limiting infiltration into sensitive defence and energy sectors.

The Western Intelligence Partnership

Ukraine’s intelligence renaissance has not occurred in isolation. Deep and consistent cooperation with Western agencies, including the CIA, the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), and NATO partners, has dramatically enhanced Ukraine’s strategic awareness. Satellite imagery, signals intelligence, and cross-border surveillance have created an unprecedented level of integration.

Yet Ukraine’s intelligence services have not merely absorbed external support—they have become valued contributors. Ukrainian battlefield intelligence, assessments of Russian troop movements, and on-the-ground reports have informed Western decision-making from Washington to Brussels. Ukraine’s demonstrated ability to neutralise Russian informants and predict missile attack waves has led NATO to incorporate Ukrainian threat intelligence into its broader planning.

Risks and Future Challenges

The increasing prominence of Ukraine’s intelligence community is not without risks. An overemphasis on covert retaliation could invite escalation, particularly if strikes hit Russian civilian targets (which for the most part have so far been avoided due to Ukrainian intelligence and targeting expertise). Meanwhile the challenge of reconciling expanded wartime powers with democratic accountability will grow more acute as the war continues.

Ukraine’s security services must also avoid the trap of post-conflict politicisation. Their credibility rests not just on battlefield success but on continued professionalism, transparency, and protection of civil liberties. Western partners, while impressed, will expect peacetime reforms.

A Quiet Revolution in the Shadows

Ukraine’s success on the battlefield is increasingly intertwined with her intelligence prowess. The country’s quiet war of infiltration, sabotage, surveillance, and disruption has inflicted meaningful damage on a larger and better-resourced enemy. The SBU and HUR, once symbols of post-Soviet stagnation, are now agents of transformation. In the process, they have reshaped the global understanding of what a mid-sized European intelligence service can achieve—especially when a nation’s very survival depends on it.