With the annexation of Crimea and the speed and efficiency of the so-called little green men took control, it was taken as evidence that Main Directorate operations, technology, signals, and security had drastically improved. Under the previous GRU Director, Valentin Korabelnikov, there was criticism of a focus on kinetic operations rather than gathering intelligence, but as the political situation deteriorated for Russia in Ukraine, and the FSB analysis that rebellion across the Donbass region could be autarkical proved faulty, the Main Directorate Spetsnaz troops became an indispensable cadre for the insurgency. Apart from the use of drones for real time reconnaissance and artillery strike, Unit 26165 is thought to have interfered with Ukrainian communications. Sergun supervised the deniable undercover units that America struggled to find an effective response to. The local partisan-proxies and Russian artillery were utilized in a combination of low intensity and siege warfare "to transfer military power into political progress, while obfuscating the associated cost" as in the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport.