Main Directorate of Intelligence (Ukraine)

The Kiev Military District was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its existence.

The Odesa Military District was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 1998 most of its territory was transformed into the Southern Operational Command.

The Red Banner Carpathian Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Cold War and subsequently of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the early Post-Soviet period.

The Soviet Armed Forces, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and the Red Army, were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922) and the Soviet Union (1922–1991) from their beginnings in the Russian Civil War of 1917–1923 to the collapse of the USSR in 1991. In May 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued decrees forming the Russian Armed Forces, which subsumed much of the Soviet Armed Forces. Much of the former Soviet Armed Forces in the other smaller Soviet republics gradually came under those republics' control.

Main Intelligence Directorate, abbreviated GRU, was the foreign military intelligence agency of the Soviet Army General Staff of the Soviet Union until 1991. For a few months it was also the foreign military intelligence agency of the newly established Russian Federation until 7 May 1992 when it was dissolved and the Russian GRU took over its activities.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the process of internal disintegration within the Soviet Union (USSR) which resulted in the end of the country's and its federal government's existence as a sovereign state, thereby resulting in its constituent republics gaining full independence on 26 December 1991. It brought an end to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's effort to reform the Soviet political and economic system in an attempt to stop a period of political stalemate and economic backslide. The Soviet Union had experienced internal stagnation and ethnic separatism. Although highly centralized until its final years, the country was made up of 15 top-level republics that served as homelands for different ethnicities. By late 1991, amid a catastrophic political crisis, with several republics already departing the Union and the waning of centralized power, the leaders of three of its founding members declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed. Eight more republics joined their declaration shortly thereafter. Gorbachev resigned in December 1991 and what was left of the Soviet parliament voted to end itself.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine, most commonly known in Ukraine as ZSU or anglicized as AFU, are the military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the President of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rada parliamentary commission. They trace their lineage to 1917, while the modern armed forces were formed after Ukrainian independence in 1991.

Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2010, and as the Minister of Trade and Economic Development in 2012. From 2007 until 2012, he headed the Council of Ukraine's National Bank. He was elected president on 25 May 2014, receiving 54.7% of the votes cast in the first round, thus winning outright and avoiding a run-off. During his presidency, Poroshenko led the country through the first phase of the war in Donbas, pushing the Russian separatist forces into the Donbas Region. He began the process of integration with the European Union by signing the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada is composed of 450 deputies, who are presided over by a chairman (speaker). The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capital Kyiv. The deputies elected on 21 July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election were inaugurated on 29 August 2019.

Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Skipalskyi is a Ukrainian military officer and spy. For over 20 years he worked as a Soviet border guard and military counterintelligence.

The FSB Academy, in full the Academy of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, is an education and research institution federally chartered to prepare Russian intelligence personnel for the Federal Security Service in particular and for the Russian Intelligence Community in general.

Colonel General Ihor Petrovich Smeshko served as the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) from 2003 to 2005, where he supported the opposition during the Orange Revolution. In 2010, he entered politics with the Strength and Honor party, which he formed with several former security and intelligence officials. He was chairman of the Intelligence Committee under the President of Ukraine.

Cherkasy Oblast, also referred to as Cherkashchyna is an oblast (province) in central Ukraine located along the Dnieper River. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Cherkasy. The current population of the oblast is 1,160,744.

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna, is an oblast (province) of southeastern Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. It was created on February 27, 1932. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast has a population of about 3,096,485, approximately 80% of whom live centering on administrative centers: Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Kamianske, Nikopol and Pavlohrad. The Dnieper River runs through the oblast.

The Soviet Armed Forces, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and the Red Army, were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922) and the Soviet Union (1922–1991) from their beginnings in the Russian Civil War of 1917–1923 to the collapse of the USSR in 1991. In May 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued decrees forming the Russian Armed Forces, which subsumed much of the Soviet Armed Forces. Much of the former Soviet Armed Forces in the other smaller Soviet republics gradually came under those republics' control.

Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine. Located in the northeast of the country, it is the largest city of the historic Slobozhanshchyna region. Kharkiv is the administrative centre of Kharkiv Oblast and of the surrounding Kharkiv Raion. It has a population of 1,421,125.

Ternopil Oblast is an oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret, a tributary of the Dniester. Population: 1,021,713.

Odesa Oblast, also referred to as Odeshchyna is an oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administrative centre is the city of Odesa. Population: 2,351,382.

Lviv Oblast, also referred to as Lvivshchyna, is an oblast in western Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is 2,478,133.

Kyrylo Oleksiyovych Budanov is a Ukrainian military leader who is the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine since August 2020. Budanov previously served as the Deputy Director of one of the Departments of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine. He holds the rank of major general.