The task was to stop numerous air strikes on peaceful cities. They fulfilled the task, the DIU website says.
"However, for Oleh Babiy, the commander who covered the leaving of his men, it turned out to be the last one," the intelligence service said.
Colonel Oleh Babiy, Hero of Ukraine, was a spy who took an active part in the destruction of Russian occupation forces from the beginning of the war. He organised and carried out special operations in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and in the territory of the Russian Federation, which actually changed the course of this war.
Babiy conducted nine successful reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines, 12 special operations to organise and support the resistance movement in the occupied territory of Ukraine and behind enemy lines. He identified up to 70 important strategic Russian targets: command posts, military equipment, engineering and fortification equipment. The information about them was used by the military to plan operations to liberate the occupied territory and to target important Russian targets.
"Thanks to the successful completion of tasks by Colonel Babiy's group, we managed to disorganise the occupiers' logistics, destroy its important facilities and elements of critical infrastructure. Entire units of the Russian occupation forces lost their combat capability, command and control of troops and weapons, suffered communication disruption, and therefore lost efficiency in interaction with their rear," the DIU added.
The last successfully completed task of Oleh Babiy's reconnaissance group - the destruction and disabling of three Russian TU-22M3 bombers - significantly disrupted the plans of the Russian military and political leadership to launch missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine and actually completely destabilised the operation of airfields and long-range aviation base points.
To complete the task, Oleh Babiy walked more than 600 km across Russia as part of the reconnaissance group. Having made their way deep into the Russia’s rear, the spies completed the task - they destroyed a Russian TU-22M3 bomber and disabled two more, but also suffered irreplaceable losses. Returning to the territory controlled by Ukraine, Colonel Oleh Babiy's reconnaissance group was ambushed and engaged in an unequal battle with the Russian invaders.
In this battle, on 30 August 2023, while covering the leaving of his comrades-in-arms, Ukrainian reconnaissance man Lieutenant Colonel Oleh Babiy was mortally wounded and killed.
For his heroic feat, Oleh Babiy was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine and the Order of the Golden Star.
The Hero is survived by his wife and two young children. The youngest daughter was only one year old at the time of her father's death.