Ukrainian military intelligence says it ambushed two Russian GRU special forces groups

Ukraine's Defence Intelligence Directorate (HUR) said on 11 October that its "Timur Special Unit" ambushed and "neutralised" two groups of Russian special forces from the 10th Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade, and took one Russian serviceman prisoner. The claim comes only from HUR and could not be independently verified.

HUR announced the operation in a post on its official Telegram channel at about 12:29 UTC. It described the action as a counter-sabotage special operation. The post gave no date or location for the ambush, no figures for Russian killed or wounded, and no size for the two groups. It did not say what the groups were doing when they were intercepted. HUR did not publish photos with the post, although the channel's post listed one video.

How HUR says the ambush was set up

According to HUR, its officers established the composition of the Russian groups and their movement routes through agent work, including information obtained from within the enemy's ranks, and through technical intelligence means.

On that basis, the Timur Special Unit set up an ambush to intercept the Russian special forces. HUR said that after detecting the enemy, its fighters opened fire and then cleared the area. One Russian special forces serviceman was captured.

HUR used the word "neutralised" for the two groups. The term is commonly used in such statements and can cover killed, wounded or captured personnel. The agency did not say how many fell into each category apart from the one prisoner.

The Russian unit involved

The 10th Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade belongs to the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff, known as the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service. HUR describes it as a regular formation of Russian military intelligence. It said the brigade's personnel took part in the wars against Georgia and Ukraine and in Russia's military campaign in Syria. HUR also said the presence of its members in occupied Ukrainian territory was documented as early as 2014–2015.

These descriptions are HUR's own. The Russian side had not commented on the claim in the material available to RealUA.

Cumulative figures for the Zaporizhzhia direction

HUR also gave overall figures for the Timur Special Unit's work on the Zaporizhzhia direction, the section of the front in southeastern Ukraine. It said that over the whole period of the unit's operation there, its fighters have inflicted "irrecoverable losses" of 448 Russian personnel and taken 85 Russian servicemen prisoner.

These are cumulative totals for the unit's entire Zaporizhzhia operation. They are not casualty figures for this ambush. HUR did not say over what period the totals were counted, and the numbers have not been independently confirmed. "Irrecoverable losses" generally refers to those killed or permanently lost to the enemy's forces.

HUR did not say whether the captured soldier's identity or testimony would be released.