Ukraine’s GUR Has Mossad Style Reach to Target War Criminals

(KYIV, UKRAINE) – Russian military commanders face a sustained threat from Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, according to a senior Western military analyst, who warned they will spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders.

Lieutenant General Ben Hodges (Retired), former commanding general of the United States Army Europe, said the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (GUR) had demonstrated a capability comparable to Israeli intelligence service Mossad.

“It’s got an arm much like the Mossad that can hunt down Russian generals and anybody else who was responsible for war crimes, attacks on civilians, kidnap children, all these kinds of things,” Lieutenant General Hodges told Times Radio’s Frontline programme.

He added: “The GUR is going to make life miserable for these Russian officers who will spend the rest of their life checking under their car and looking over their shoulder.”

The assessment came as Ukrainian forces continue to integrate advanced unmanned ground vehicles into frontline operations. Lieutenant General Hodges, an infantry officer by training, said the development meant fewer soldiers would be killed or maimed.

He described the evolution of semi-autonomous and autonomous equipment on land, in the air and at sea as science fiction becoming science fact. However, he noted that while technology changes the character of war, the nature of war – including violence and uncertainty – remains unchanged. Robotics, he said, could not yet manage direct interfaces with civilian populations.

On the political front, Lieutenant General Hodges welcomed the electoral defeat of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whom he described as a Russian-influenced voice blocking European Union funding for Ukraine. The victory of Peter Magyar, he said, could unlock €90 billion in loans for Kyiv. The timing, he added, was critical as Ukraine was only months away from running out of money.

The general observed that Russian influence was declining across multiple regions. He cited failures in Venezuela, Syria, Armenia and Moldova, noting that only in Georgia and Belarus had Moscow maintained direct leverage. He attributed this decline to Russia’s inability to win its war against Ukraine.

Lieutenant General Hodges said momentum had shifted in Ukraine’s favour. He pointed to successful Ukrainian strikes against Russian oil and gas export infrastructure, logistics networks and rail links to occupied Crimea. He described Crimea as the decisive terrain of the war, predicting that the Kerch Bridge would eventually be destroyed and that the peninsula could become isolated.

He compared Ukraine’s future security posture to that of Israel, envisioning a large domestic defence industry, rapidly mobilisable territorial forces and a powerful intelligence arm. He said the GUR would help maintain initiative against Russian forces, who he said had not demonstrated a reciprocal capability.

The general also called for a more muscular European response to Russian grey-zone operations, including submarine activity around pipelines and cables. He praised British Defence Secretary John Healey for publicly calling out Russian submarine operations, adding that the quality of British armed forces personnel remained high but that numbers were insufficient.

Regarding Middle East tensions, Lieutenant General Hodges criticised recent United States diplomatic efforts with Iran as “pathetic” and “embarrassing”, describing the US team as “real estate guys” with no business negotiating. He warned that Iranian objectives and US objectives might diverge from those of Israel.

He concluded that the US was motivated by maintaining the petrodollar system and global currency dominance, suggesting that Iran acquiring nuclear weapons was less concerning to Washington than losing control over global oil supply chains.