Lauge Risom Koch 
Ukrainian military intelligence halted a planned Russian offensive in Sumy, clearing 642 hectares of forest and deceiving Russian command during a seven-week special operation.
A seven-week special operation conducted by Ukrainian military intelligence in the Sumy region halted a planned Russian offensive and cleared 642 hectares of contested forest. According to United24 Media, the mission was executed by Group 10 of the Active Operations Department of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR). The operation, codenamed “Cheburechna,” involved a month of specialized terrain training before deploying into contested border territory.
Ukrainian assault groups operated in two distinct phases across steep wooded slopes and ravines, establishing logistics corridors and pushing into Russian rear positions. Despite intense artillery shelling and Russian drones dropping incendiary munitions, the teams conducted ambushes and captured Russian personnel without immediately disclosing their presence. The mission derived its codename from the unit’s radio reporting protocol, where captured enemy troops were referred to as a “cheburek.”
The operation successfully secured vital logistics routes and disrupted Moscow’s planned offensive thrust in the sector. Following the completion of intelligence tasks, Ukrainian special forces transferred the secured perimeter to conventional Defense Forces units to establish permanent defensive fortifications.
Forest combat and tactical radio deception
The assault teams operated under severe physical conditions, navigating dense vegetation and difficult topography that soldiers compared to mountainous terrain. Ukrainian units conducted targeted reconnaissance and clearance tasks behind front-line positions while maintaining operational security. The teams captured Russian personnel, transferred them to the rear, and held forward positions while evading detection.
A coordinated radio deception campaign accompanied the ground maneuvers to obscure the battlefield situation from Russian headquarters. The disinformation effort proved so effective that Russian commanders remained unaware of their territorial losses for two weeks after Ukrainian intelligence personnel concluded their mission and withdrew from the area.
“Even during the second stage, when we had finished the work, and all of us had already left the mission area, the occupiers’ command still thought for another two weeks that those were their forests, their positions,” the operators recalled. Russian logistics units continued dropping supply packages and attempting radio contact with positions that had already been neutralized.
Losses and defensive consolidation
Ukrainian intelligence confirmed that four fighters were killed during the seven-week operation, identified by their call signs “Yuki,” “Travka,” “Syoma,” and “Bas.” Official figures released by HUR stated that Russian forces sustained 107 personnel killed, 157 wounded, and 29 taken prisoner during the engagements.
Ukrainian forces also reported substantial destruction of Russian hardware and field infrastructure. The operation resulted in the destruction of 61 drone launch sites and command posts, 31 artillery systems, 368 vehicles, and 630 defensive shelters and fortifications.
The localized success in the Sumy forests coincided with broader Ukrainian pressure along adjacent axes, including the liberation of three settlements near Oleksandrivka. Those ongoing counter-actions prompted Russian military commanders to redirect marine and armored assets that had been earmarked for offensive operations elsewhere along the front line.
