Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address that Colonel Serhiy Lupanchuk would now head the forces and described him as "an experienced officer, combat officer and the right man in command". The president said Lupanchuk's predecessor, Maj-Gen. Viktor Horenko, who led the forces from July 2022, "will continue to perform special tasks" within the Defence Ministry's Intelligence Directorate. The special forces are believed to be behind the most sophisticated operations Ukraine's military has conducted in areas under Russian control, in particular Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, eight years before Moscow's full land invasion. The special forces are also responsible for military information and psychological operations, as well as the organization of resistance in occupied territories. Zelenskiy this week praised Ukraine's military for diminishing Moscow's military strength in the Black Sea through increased air and sea drone attacks on Russian military targets.

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Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Zelenskiy, Serhiy Lupanchuk, Viktor Horenko, Horenko, General Valery Zaluzhnyi, Zaluzhniy, Ron Popeski, Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Rod Nickel Organizations: Defence Ministry's Intelligence, Pravda, Fleet, Economist, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Crimea, Sevastopol, Black