SBU's Alpha Special Operations Center
The SBU's Alpha Special Operations Center is a special-purpose unit of the Security Service of Ukraine, tracing its lineage to the KGB's Alpha Group created in the 1970s. It is subordinated directly to the SBU leadership and conducts special operations including counter-terrorism, hostage rescue and anti-sabotage work in the conflict zone. Since Russia's full-scale invasion, Alpha has been involved in strikes against military and industrial targets on Russian territory.
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Ukrainian strikes hit Azov optical-mechanical plant, Ilysky refinery, and Russian air-defense assets overnight
On the night of 25–26 September 2026, Ukrainian Defense Forces struck the Azov Optical-Mechanical Plant in Rostov Oblast — a facility linked by open-source analysts to several Russian missile programs — along with the Ilysky oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai, a Pantsir-S2 air-defense system, an ammunition depot in Sievierodonetsk, and a P-18 Terek radar in Donetsk Oblast. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said the Azov strike was carried out by its Alpha Special Operations Center together with the Ukrainian Navy, using Neptune cruise missiles and Ruta, Palyanytsya, and Bars jet drone-missiles. President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly confirmed the strikes.