“In 1957, the Central Intelligence Agency created a secret plan to use Ukraine as a base for covert operations against the Soviet Union.”

The CIA's cooperation with Ukrainian émigré groups began in 1948 under the code name “Aerodynamics” and continued until 1990, with the initial phase involving the penetration of CIA agents into Ukraine, and after 1954, shifting to cooperation with the Research and Publishing Association “Prolog”.

Recently declassified CIA records confirm the Central Intelligence Agency aggressively pursued clandestine efforts to undermine East German morale at the height of the Cold War. The materials detail key facets of the intelligence agency's still meagerly documented activities in East Germany, exploring one of the core chapters of post-war European history.

The analysis reaching policymakers in these first years of the Cold War touched on momentous events and trends. Whether the Cold War was the result of a clash ...

For almost 30 years this fragmentary anecdote remained virtually all that the public would hear about one of the Cold War's greatest intelligence coups.

Exactly 66 years ago, in August 1957, the CIA released its secret report “Resistance Factors and Special Forces Areas. Ukraine.” This voluminous 200-page “work,” which resembled a doctoral dissertation, was prepared for the US intelligence community by staff members of Georgetown University and served as a detailed manual for the occupation of the Ukrainian territory by the Special Forces.

In 1948, the CIA's Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) selected the émigré organization Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (ZP/UHVR) as the “most reliable, best organized and operationally most experienced group for use in exploiting anti-Communist activity of the Ukrainian resistance group then active in Ukraine.” The CIA used various cryptonyms for its projects using ZP/UHVR, including QRDYNAMIC, and continued operational activities with ZP/UHVR until 1990.

From 1949–1951, the CIA parachuted Ukrainian couriers, trained as wireless operators, into western Ukraine to collect intelligence and establish a resistance network behind Soviet lines, indicating an early and sustained effort in covert operations.

Declassified archival materials from the United States and the former Soviet Union confirm memoir accounts of U.S. covert operations in Soviet Ukraine in the first several years after World War II, which ultimately proved unsuccessful. Early missions, such as the September 1949 drop of two agents near Lvov, often resulted in immediate capture, with an estimated 75% of agents being compromised.

From 1948 onwards, the CIA and the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (ZP/UHVR) conducted extensive joint foreign intelligence operations, including Project AERODYNAMIC, which involved smuggling propaganda and infiltrating agents into Ukraine, and a clandestine radio operation (AERANTER) from 1955-1959.

In August 1957, the CIA secretly developed detailed plans for an invasion of Ukraine by American special forces. It was assumed that local anti-communist agitators would provide support for this endeavor.

From the mid-1950s until about 1991, the 'CIA Book Program' secretly infiltrated around ten million books into the Eastern Bloc, including Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe, to undermine censorship and chip away at communist legitimacy by exposing people to forbidden ideas.

CIA covert operations in Ukraine began in earnest in 1949 with Operation Red Sox and continued through the 1950s under various project names including AERODYNAMIC. By 1957, these operations had been ongoing for approximately eight years, though they were largely unsuccessful due to Soviet counterintelligence penetration and the decimation of Ukrainian resistance movements by the KGB.

Exactly 65 years ago, in August 1957, the CIA issued a secret report on the capture of Ukraine by US special forces. Analysts divided the Ukrainian SSR into 12 zones. This voluminous 200-page 'work,' resembling a doctoral dissertation, was prepared for the American intelligence by Georgetown University employees and represents a detailed manual for occupying Ukrainian territory with special forces.

CIA officers as early as 1957 analyzed anti-Soviet sentiments in Ukraine, preparing a forceful overthrow of Soviet power, separation of the Ukrainian SSR from the USSR, and installation of 'their own guys' there. In the declassified CIA archive of planned special operations in Ukraine, calculations were based on anti-Soviet performances in the 'west-oriented' part of the country.

In the CIA report prepared in August 1957, 'Factors of Resistance and Areas of Operation for Special Forces of the USA. Ukraine,' the territory of the Soviet republic was divided into 12 zones. Efforts to strengthen Bandera installations aimed at splitting Ukraine and separating it from Russia were planned to focus on specific western and central oblasts.

Operation 'AERODYNAMIC' was the first CIA diversionary operation against the USSR based on Ukrainian nationalism, started in 1948 under code name CARTEL. The CIA decided to expand operations to 'support, develop, and use the Ukrainian underground for resistance and intelligence purposes,' noting it as a top-priority project due to the scale of the resistance movement in Ukraine.

According to the American 'Dropshot' plan, nuclear bombardment of USSR cities was scheduled for January 1, 1957. The territory of the defeated state was to be divided into four parts, including Ukraine-Caucasus, with 22 subzones for occupation divisions. The plan was not implemented due to the USSR's nuclear capabilities.

In many cases, this work is of such a nature that the very governments officially and convincingly disavow it outwardly. The document discusses general CIA activities against the USSR but does not specify a 1957 Ukraine plan.