Today is the Day of the Security Service of Ukraine: the role of the SBU in repelling Russian aggression
Kyiv • UNN
The Security Service of Ukraine celebrates its professional holiday today, marking its founding in 1992 and its crucial role in countering Russian aggression, including the Crimean crisis of 1994, the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014, the fight against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, and the ongoing full-scale Russian invasion.
Today, on March 25, employees of the Security Service of Ukraine are celebrating their professional holiday, UNN reports.
The event was initiated in 2001 by a presidential decree on the occasion of the adoption of the Law on the Security Service of Ukraine by the Verkhovna Rada on March 25, 1992. Soon after, all the personnel of the young state's special service took the oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people.
The first head of the SBU was the late Army General Yevhen Marchuk, and the first serious test was the events in Crimea in 1994, when Russia made its first attempt to establish its power on the Ukrainian peninsula.
Since the early 1990s, there have been many pro-Russian forces in Crimea. In October 1993, the Supreme Council of Crimea, taking advantage of the weakness of the central government in Ukraine, created the post of president of the autonomy. The Crimean presidential election was won by pro-Russian politician Yuriy Meshkov, who had put forward the idea of separating Crimea from Ukraine. He controlled all law enforcement agencies on the peninsula except for the SBU.
A special operation was developed, in the framework of which fighters of the Alpha special forces arrived in Crimea under cover. On May 19, they managed to get into the building of the Security Service of Crimea, which was guarded by Meshkov's "fighters" around the perimeter, and take control of it. From that day on, Ukrainian authorities were restored in Crimea. Meshkov later fled to Russia.
During the years of fugitive President yanukovych's rule, the SBU, headed by Russian citizen Oleksandr Yakymenko, was drained of blood and could not effectively counteract the Russian occupation of Crimea.
At the same time, SBU officers were actively involved in the fight against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Not least, thanks to the SBU, Russia did not achieve its goals.
Full-scale Russian aggression has become a new challenge for the Security Service of Ukraine.
One of the SBU's key tasks is to identify Russian agents forming their network in Ukraine, supporters of the "Russian world" who betray the location of military and strategic facilities to the enemy, and public and religious figures spreading Russian propaganda.
The SBU also conducts successful and daring operations behind enemy lines. The most famous of them are the truck explosion on the Crimean Bridge on October 8, 2022, and the attack on the bridge by marine drones on July 17, 2023.
