What is Ukraine's SBU? Size, Leadership, and Key Operations Explained
Overview of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU)
LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Russia fired a drone into the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in central Kyiv on Friday, in what Ukrainian authorities condemned as the latest in a string of escalations in the war.
Here are some key facts about the organisation.
What is the SBU?
The SBU is a powerful and shadowy organisation that emerged out of the Ukrainian branch of the Soviet-era KGB when Ukraine gained independence in 1991. It has a sprawling purview over domestic security and related matters. Since Russia's 2022 invasion, it has played an expansive role in the fighting, investigating war crimes, countering cyberattacks, conducting counterintelligence and catching Russian agents. It also has thousands of Alpha special forces which have conducted drone attacks on Russian military hardware on the battlefield as well as oil refineries and military facilities deep inside Russia. They have also used sea drones to attack tankers that transport Russian oil.
Key Operations and Activities
Authors of 'Operation Spiderweb'
The organisation has said it carried out some of the war's most spectacular operations against Russia, such as using a truck bomb to strike Russia's bridge to the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in October 2022. Last year, it masterminded an elaborate 2025 drone attack, codenamed Spiderweb, that struck a slew of Russian strategic bombers at airbases deep inside Russia. It is also widely seen as a major player in a campaign of covert assassinations of senior Russian military and other figures blamed by Ukraine for carrying out war crimes. Russia has denounced those killings as terrorist attacks.
Who is in Charge of the SBU?
The agency is run by acting head Oleksandr Poklad, whose office was directly targeted by the drone that hit the SBU's headquarters in Kyiv on Friday, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Poklad, who was appointed in July, was not injured, the agency said.
How Big is the SBU?
The SBU has expanded in size during the war. The number of people working in the SBU is classified, but legislation caps the maximum number of personnel it is permitted to have during wartime at 41,000. The figure is likely to be in that ballpark. The legislative cap was increased last year from the previous wartime threshold of 31,000 personnel.
Bitter Rivalry with Military Intelligence
The SBU has a long-running rivalry with the Main Intelligence Directorate, Ukraine's military intelligence agency. A dispute this week between members of the organisations spiralled into a shootout in which several military intelligence officers were injured in Kyiv. Zelenskiy has ordered an investigation into what happened.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
