British Defence Intelligence Update Ukraine 23 July 2025

Russia is escalating its global campaign to subvert its adversaries and increase Russian influence. Whilst Russian military intelligence (GRU) is at the forefront of these efforts, Russia has also turned to an increasing variety of non-state actors to conduct a full spectrum of overt to covert activities, including espionage, assassination, sabotage, and electronic, cyber and information operations.

On 18 July 2025, the UK government sanctioned three GRU units and an interference agency (listed below), as well as 18 military intelligence officers, for their role in targeting the UK, the UK’s allies, and Ukraine.

• The GRU’s Unit 29155, or 161st Specialist Training Centre; its cyber wing was responsible for deploying the destructive cyber operation WhisperGate in Ukraine in 2022, and the wider unit was responsible for notable assassination and sabotage operations, including the 2018 attempted murder of Yulia and Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, UK, and ammunition warehouse bombings in 2011 in Bulgaria and 2014 in Czechia.
• Unit 26165, or 85th Main Special Services Centre; has conducted widespread espionage campaigns and provided intelligence to support Russian missile strikes, including the 2022 attack on Ukraine’s Mariupol theatre which killed hundreds of civilians, including children.
• Unit 74455, or the Main Centre for Special Technologies; has been responsible for cyber attacks targeting democratic elections, critical national infrastructure, and industrial control systems.
• African Initiative; an interference agency that employs Russian intelligence officers to conduct information operations in Africa, including spreading conspiracy theories designed to undermine lifesaving global health initiatives.