The Ukraine's Special Operations Forces
are one of five branches of the Ukraine's Armed Forces
Ukrainian Special Forces Command numbers
are over than 4,000 Spetsnaz members
all of them are professional soldiers
Their roles are Direct Action
Special Reconnaissance
Counter Terrorism
Special Operations
as well as to defense Ukraine from outside threats
Like all post-Soviet states
Ukraine inherited its special forces (Spetsnaz) units
from the remnants of the Soviet armed forces
GRU and KGB units
Now, Ukraine maintains its own Spetsnaz structure
under the control of the Ministry of Interior
and under the Ministry of Defense
while the Security Service of Ukraine maintains its own Spetsnaz force
the Alpha group
The term "Alpha" is also used by many other post Soviet states such as Russia
Belarus and Kazakhstan
as these units are based on the Soviet Union's Alpha Group
The Ukraine's Special Forces Command consists of
99th Staff and Support Battalion
3rd Special Purpose Regiment
8th Special Purpose Regiment
73rd Naval Special Purpose
140th Special Purpose Center
and other Special Purpose Center
Тhe Ukraine's Spetsnaz has combat experiences during Donbas War in 2014
Despite having lost many members
Ukrainian Spetsnaz was called to service in April 2014
once Russian insurgents began to advance into Ukraine
One of the first large scale missions was to retake the Kramatorsk airfield
as a pivot point to put pressure on Donetsk
which had largely been taken over by insurgents
On 15 April 2014
Ukraine’s Spetsnaz unit Omega
stormed the airfield retaking it and capturing an undisclosed number
of pro-Russian insurgents in the process
Kramatorsk airfield was the scene of prolonged fighting even after its recapture
On 25 April
insurgents launched a failed attempt to retake the airfield
destroying a Mil Mi-8 helicopter and an An-2 transport
The airfield was surrounded by insurgents for several months
until the liberation of Kramatorsk from insurgents in July 2014