Ukraine intelligence officer given 20-year sentence in Russia over Crimea operation
Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate has confirmed one of its officers received a 20-year sentence in Russia following capture during a Crimean operation.
A Russian court sentenced Ukrainian military intelligence officer Oleksandr Lyubas to 20 years in prison for his participation in a landing operation in Russian-occupied Crimea last year, reports Russian state news agency TASS.
The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don convicted Lyubas on charges of “illegal border crossing, weapons possession and smuggling, terrorism, and undergoing training for terrorist activities,” according to TASS.
Russian authorities claim Lyubas was part of a special operations unit of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) of the Ministry of Defense.
The conviction is linked to an October 2023 operation in which Ukrainian special forces units conducted a landing on the Crimean peninsula. Ukraine’s HUR released a video at the time showing members of its Stugna and Brotherhood units carrying out the operation and engaging Russian forces.
Russia occupied Crimea in 2014. The peninsula has become a Russian military base as well as other occupied territories and is used for further aggression.
Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s HUR, told Ukrainska Pravda that “during the landing of Ukrainian fighters, a battle took place, as a result of which the Russian forces suffered significant losses.”
HUR chief Kyrylo Budanov confirmed in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda that Lyubas was captured during the 4 October landing on the Crimean coast.
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