<img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/18/0/0/4000/2669/664/0/75/0/8c42e51_1695054934795-groupe-timur-1-2.jpg" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/18/0/0/4000/2669/556/0/75/0/8c42e51_1695054934795-groupe-timur-1-2.jpg 556w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/18/0/0/4000/2669/600/0/75/0/8c42e51_1695054934795-groupe-timur-1-2.jpg 600w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/18/0/0/4000/2669/664/0/75/0/8c42e51_1695054934795-groupe-timur-1-2.jpg 664w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/18/0/0/4000/2669/700/0/75/0/8c42e51_1695054934795-groupe-timur-1-2.jpg 700w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/18/0/0/4000/2669/800/0/75/0/8c42e51_1695054934795-groupe-timur-1-2.jpg 800w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw" alt="Four members of the " timur"="" special="" forces="" group="" from="" ukraine's="" military="" intelligence="" agency,="" the="" gur,="" in="" september="" 2023."="" width="100%" height="auto">
Lieutenant-Colonel "Timur" and the elite soldiers of his unit may one day go down in Ukrainian history as the combatants who planted a Ukrainian flag on Crimean soil for the first time in almost 10 years, on August 24, Ukraine's independence day. The memory of their feat of arms, a military action "very important symbolically," according to Timur, who goes by his nom de guerre, will depend on whether or not this territory is recaptured.
The first region of Ukraine to be annexed by Russia in 2014, Crimea is the symbol of Ukraine's desire to return to the borders of 1991, the year of the country's independence. "It all began with Crimea, and it will end with Crimea," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky often repeats to his foreign officials.
While covert operations by Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence (GUR) are not usually officially confirmed, Kyiv revealed on Independence Day that a special unit had carried out a daring operation in Crimea. "The landing of personnel took place on the territory of the peninsula as part of the special operation. The Main Directorate of Intelligence in cooperation with the Navy conducted a special operation," declared Andriy Yusov, a GUR representative.
General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of military intelligence, added on television a few hours later, "This special operation is vital, first of all, to make people believe (...) We need them to remember and believe that victory is just around the corner. And their liberation is not far off either." It was exceptional for Kyiv to confirm the existence and success of a clandestine operation, but in this case, one of its objectives was to boost Ukrainian morale.
At an undisclosed location in Kyiv, four GUR officers were authorized to talk about the "Produdjenia sili" operation ("The Force Awakens," a reference to the Star Wars film), on condition that they did not reveal any operational details. Lieutenant-Colonel Timur, who commanded the operation, Lieutenant "Ivanov" (a specialist in incursions into enemy territory), Colonel "X" and Lieutenant "Y" all took part in the mission, for which they were congratulated by their comrades and awarded medals by the Ukrainian president. (None of them were authorized to speak using their real names.)
The four officers serve in one of the GUR's largest special forces battalions, which they call among themselves the "Timur group," after its leader. Their primary mission is to carry out "combat intelligence," i.e. everything needed to "prepare the advance of the armed forces." The group carries out both front-line assault and diversionary operations, as well as in-depth operations in enemy territory to "destroy Russian army command posts, (...) eliminate Russian officers involved in attacks on Ukrainian civilians, [and] carry out other missions that we are not allowed to mention," Timur explained.
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