Rotor blades clattered in the night sky as the helicopters streaked low over the Russian border. On board, the men of the Shaman battalion, an elite Ukrainian special forces unit, prepared to disembark deep behind enemy lines.
Their mission, to destroy infrastructure vital to the Kremlin’s war effort, was one of several covert raids inside Russia, The Times has been told by two of the operators who took part and an intelligence officer; the first time Ukrainian special forces have acknowledged taking the fight into Russian territory.
The exact targets are classified but the teams’ forays across the border help to explain how Russian oil refineries, ammunition depots and communications networks have been mysteriously sabotaged.
Sergeants “Handsome” and “Twenty Two”, both aged 25, have been
