The SBU Head Ivan Bakanov greeted the participants and awarded the winners of the tactical shooting competition with the "Cup of the Center for Special Operations "A" - 2020".

The tournament was attended by 30 teams from special forces, including the SBU, NABU, UDO (Department of the State Guard of Ukraine), the Border Guard Service, etc.

"Your experience is unique. And you proved your professionalism and ability to clearly perform combat missions once again. The principle of "if you want peace, prepare for war" has not yet been abolished. Of course, I wish you applied your professional skills only during the trainings, but today we are defending the Ukrainian land. Therefore, your skills are very important for the country," said the SBU Head.

He stressed that the annual tournament is dedicated to the memory of CSO "A" employees who died during combat missions. He therefore called for a moment of silence to honor their memory.

"No word can replace the loss of our heroes. We must always remember them and at the same time continue our work. We are well aware of the challenges our country is facing. But the level of combat training of special forces fighters allows us to accept these challenges with honor," emphasized Ivan Bakanov.

This year the tournament took place on August 18-20 on the basis of CSO "A" shooting range. All teams showed high tactical shooting skills: not only a demonstration of accuracy and speed of execution of exercises, but also a high level of cooperation and reliability of each team member in near-combat conditions.

The team of the First division of CSO "A" won the competition, the second place was taken by the employees of SBU Office in Volyn region, and the third – by representatives of CSO "A" of the SBU Office in Khmelnytskyi region.