The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (), also known in English as the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), is the military intelligence service of the Ukrainian government. It is an agency of the Ministry of Defence, not the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Unlike the intelligence agencies of many countries, the HUR is not restricted to intelligence-gathering but also carries out military operations.
The agency was established from the existing intelligence assets of the Kyiv, Odesa and Carpathian military districts of the Soviet Armed Forces and its Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the independence of Ukraine.
The Intelligence Directorate of the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was established in February 1992. Based on a presidential decree issued on September 7, 1992, the Strategic Military Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence was created. The existence of two separate agencies with similar responsibilities, and reporting to different authorities, hampered the development of an effective military intelligence system.
On July 6, 1993, the Decree of the President of Ukraine ordered the merging of the two agencies to form the Main Military Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence. It was renamed the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, or Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) for short, on April 4, 1994.
On March 22, 2001, the Ukrainian parliament (Rada) ratified the Law of Ukraine "On Intelligence Agencies of Ukraine". The HUR was given the status of special government authority.
On August 18, 2021, HUR special forces moved on Il-76MDs from the 25th Transport Aviation Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Force and flew to Kabul with the mission of evacuating citizens of Ukraine and foreigners during the 2021 Kabul airlift. In total, the aircraft of the brigade made six flights and transported more than 700 citizens of different countries. Special forces went to Kabul three times a day to find and bring citizens who were to be evacuated to the Kabul airport.
In the February of 2022, the ongoing conflict of Ukraine escalated to a full-scale war, leading to Russia's invasion on the 24th of the month. The DIU played an indirect role in events surrounding this invasion by issuing pre-invasion warnings, strengthening defence by coordinating western allies, carrying out covert missions, and influencing the leadership of Ukraine to respond decisively. The DIU prevented the fall of the Ukrainian cities by providing defence over Kyiv and launching counter attacks in Kharkiv
On September 20, 2023, CNN reported that Ukrainian special forces were likely behind multiple attacks on Wagner-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) forces in Sudan, using DJI Mavic 3 and first-person view (FPV) drones. In May 2023, HUR Chief Kyrylo Budanov vowed to "destroy Russian war criminals anywhere in the world, wherever they are." In March 2024, reports confirmed that HUR operators from the "Timur" unit were actively fighting Wagner and RSF in Sudan.
On January 30, 2024, the DIU received a Snatch Land Rover SUV for its personnel from volunteers of the British-Ukrainian society "Driving Ukraine".
On 2 May 2025, a Ukrainian HUR MAGURA V5 naval drone shot down a Russian Su-30 using a R-73 missile, 50 km west of Novorossiysk. The crew of two ended up in the Black Sea, where a civilian ship later recovered them. HUR claimed it was the first time a maritime drone shot down an aircraft.
In 2016, the HUR emblem was changed to an illustration of an owl plunging a sword into Russia. The owl has been said to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to the emblem of the Spetsnaz special forces of the Russian GRU, which depicts a bat - a natural prey of the owl. In addition, the motto "The wise will rule over the stars" () ostensibly alludes to the GRU's motto "Only the stars are above us" (). The new emblem was met with outrage from Russian journalists and politicians, including Dmitry Rogozin, and with some calling it a provocation.
The Main Directorate of Intelligence conducts its activity in the military, political, technical, economic, signals, informational and environmental spheres.
The major missions of the directorate are:
The HUR has an executive office and several agency-wide functions, and five major directorates and departments consisting of the following:
Directorates:
Departments:
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the only field reconnaissance unit of the HUR was a special unit subordinated to the Directorate's 4th Special Intelligence Service (4-ÃÂð áûÃÂöñð ÃÂÿõÃÂÃÂðûÃÂýþàÃÂþ÷òÃÂôúø):
As of 2024, the units subordinate to the HUR include:
Reconnaissance units subordinated to Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU):
Spetsnaz units under AFU operational control:
The Main Directorate of Intelligence is legally allowed to operate based upon the following documents: