Artan Special Unit is a unit of the Department of Active Operations, as part of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine.
The unit was established in July 2023, predominantly from volunteers who were mainly sportsmen, likely in anticipation of continued actions following the Ukrainian summer counteroffensive of that year.
It is intended to carry out some of the most complex intelligence tasks in the interests of the Ukrainian people.
In 2023, it participated in operations in the Black Sea to weaken Russian control around oil rigs. Later that year, it would go on to defend the Kupyansk direction, which Russian Forces tried to pressure with continued offensive actions.
Throughout the spring and summer of 2024, the unit, alongside other Intelligence Units such as the Kraken Special Unit, fought heavily in the Chasiv Yar direction. In August 2024, it landed on the Tendrivskaya Spit.
In late summer to autumn of 2024, the unit continued to defend other hot parts of the frontline, notably in Kharkiv Oblast. It would then later be redeployed to the Zaporizhzhia direction for the rest of the year and into early 2025.
In March 2025, the unit revealed that it had created a penal unit, commonly known as Shkval Units, under the name of Artan-X. It was confirmed that most soldiers of the unit were conditionally released early from prisons and other correctional facilities, with each of them choosing to serve Ukraine, defending it in the war against Russian occupiers.
In January 2026, it was regarded as one of the most combat-ready and combat-capable formations within the entirety of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, taking part and leading the liberation of Stepnohirsk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Insignia
The insignia depicts a roundel with a deep, subdued green background, with a flame edged in brown filling the canvas. At its center lies a grey roundel, containing an owl clenching the eagle of the Russian Federation, with a sword and star protruding from behind it. Inside the hilt of the sword, is the Ukrainian national symbol, the Tryzub. At the peak of the roundel, the inscriptions of the units name are written.
