Russian forces strike meeting of top Ukrainian commanders – MOD

Russian forces have struck a location where Ukrainian security and defense commanders were holding a meeting, the Defense Ministry claimed on Monday.

The attack was mentioned in passing in the ministry’s daily briefing to the press. It said military commanders and their counterparts from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) were present. The meeting was mentioned among targets chosen for Russian warplanes, missile strikes and artillery in the past 24 hours.

No additional details about the purported strike were immediately available from either side of the armed conflict.

SBU agents play a crucial part in launching drone attacks against Russia, according to Ukrainian media and some official statements made by agency officials. A drone attack on an oil refinery in Krasnodar Region on Sunday morning was attributed to its operatives, as a recent example. The raid caused a fire and reportedly caused one of the employees to die from a heart attack.

Following the 2014 armed coup in Kiev, the SBU and its military counterpart, the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) were reformed by the CIA to serve the goals of Washington’s hybrid conflict with Russia, according to reports in the US press. Ukrainians with Western training also staged targeted assassinations of officials in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics prior to their accession to the Russian Federation.

Drone operations and other forms of sabotage were reportedly incorporated into the SBU’s operations against Russia after open hostilities between the two nations erupted in February 2022.

The agency is also playing a key role in the crackdown on suspected Russia sympathizers at home, such as parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Church who have refused to recant and convert to a Kiev-friendly denomination.