Russian FSB mistakes Ukrainian saboteur Lyubas for Colonel Lobas

A member of a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group who was captured during an attempted attack on Crimea was mistaken for a lieutenant colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The video distributed by the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) shows the Ukrainian saboteur being interrogated. The man in the video introduces himself as Alexander Vladimirovich Lyubas. He was born on September 19, 1977 and served as a private in the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of Ukraine.

The man said that the Ukrainian sabotage group consisting of 16 people, arrived in Crimea from the territory of the Odessa region on one boat and five jet-skis.

The prisoner of war admitted that the purpose of the operation was to “set up an ensign” on the territory of Crimea, as well as to take photos and videos of the group members against the background of it

A number of Telegram channels and RTVI television channel reported that the detained saboteur was in fact Lieutenant Colonel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Alexander Lobas.

Lobas is 51 years old, his call sign is Sobol. He is the founder and first commander of the 37th Separate Motorised Infantry Battalion in Zaporizhzhia. 

Lobas served in the 93rd Separate Mechanised brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. After retirement, he worked in the pensions department for employees of law enforcement agencies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Zaporizhzhia region. He returned to the army after 2014 and became the chief of staff of the Zaporizhzhia self-defense, which was then transformed into the 37th territorial defense battalion.

According to Gray Zone Telegram channel, the man in the FSB video is not Lieutenant Colonel Lobas, but Alexander Lyubas, a native of the village of Ivanichevsky in the Volyn region.

In the morning of October 4, the Russian Aerospace Forces suppressed an attempt to land Ukrainian troops in Crimea. Ukrainian saboteurs were traveling on boats and jet-skis towards Cape Tarkhankut in the west of Crimea.

The Russian forces struck the saboteurs from the air. The landing group was destroyed, one saboteur was captured. Ukraine later admitted to losses during the attempted landing operation.