Major of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Yuriy Kasyanov explained the decrease in effectiveness of the disbanded unit in 2025, emphasizing the obstacles posed by the Border Guard Service itself. According to the officer, the main reason was the interference in planning and executing operations by the service’s leadership.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Change of combat tasks and misuse of resources
In his comments, Kasyanov noted that documents regarding the effectiveness and performance of the unit were submitted not only to the Border Guard Service but also to the General Staff. The major categorically refuted claims of a lack of confirmation of target hits from the Russian Federation.
“All of this exists, all of this is documented, all of this was submitted not only to the Border Guard Service but also to the General Staff,” Kasyanov emphasized, calling the assertions about the absence of confirmation of hits on military targets in Russia “nonsense and lies.”
He stressed that the Border Guard Service repeatedly changed the agreed combat orders from the General Staff to other commands, which often pertained to irrelevant targets. According to Kasyanov, this led to ineffective use of the unit’s resources, as strikes were carried out on objects that were not priorities for their armament, such as concrete bunkers, rather than on air defense systems or enemy aircraft.
Funding and response to the disbandment of the unit
Kasyanov cited an example that since March 2025, drones for the unit were no longer produced at the expense of the state budget, and their procurement was carried out solely through volunteer support. In his opinion, this also negatively affected the combat readiness of the unit.
Following Kasyanov’s public statements about the disbandment of the strike drone unit of the 10th mobile squad of the Border Guard Service, there was a public outcry. He claimed that the unit was being disbanded by order of the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, although there have been no official comments on this matter so far.
In response to inquiries to the Border Guard Service regarding the criteria for evaluating the performance of the unit where Kasyanov served, the service has not yet provided any clarifications. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the border service, Andriy Demchenko, stated in a comment to Ukrainian media that the decision to disband was made due to “the lack of effectiveness in carrying out tasks,” and the information about high effectiveness that Kasyanov mentioned has not been confirmed. The personnel are planned to be transferred to other units of the Border Guard Service.