How the Partisan Movement Is Organized in Territories Occupied by Russian Invaders

How the partisan movement is organized in territories occupied by Russian invaders

In Kherson, the car of collaborator Dmytro Savluchenko was blown up; he died. A railway bridge used by the Russians to transport weapons was blown up near Melitopol. In Crimea, partisans slipped leaflets with threats under the doors of Russian servicemen and their wives.

The resistance movement has spread across all territories occupied by Russia. Ukrainian partisans are doing everything possible to ensure the Russians do not feel at home here and cannot easily entrench themselves in the seized regions. How the resistance movement is organized — in a report by hromadske.

“The activity of Ukrainian partisans continues to complicate attempts by the Russian occupation authorities to consolidate control over the occupied territories,” the American Institute for the Study of War reported on 20 June.

Official Washington also speaks of a “serious resistance network” that makes it difficult for the Russians to govern and provide even basic services, such as garbage removal or water supply, CNN writes. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said the Kremlin is facing “increased partisan activity, especially in southern Ukraine.”

“We showed them that they are the enemies in this city”

“My city was occupied almost immediately. The whole process of resisting the occupation took the form of protests. We went out into the squares. At first there were many of us, and for a while we thought everything would be resolved and ‘settle down.’ Then we began to understand that the protests were fading, people were disappearing, and a small community emerged during those actions. These were my friends, friends of friends, new friends. We decided it was time to move the resistance to a somewhat different, more informal form.”

A burly bearded man sits with his back to the camera. He recounts how he joined the resistance movement in one of the occupied cities of Ukraine. For security reasons he does not name the settlement or himself. This video was recorded for hromadske at the request of the Center for National Resistance, which coordinates resistance in the occupied territories. We forwarded our questions to the partisan; the Center recorded his answers.

“We went out into the squares. Then we began to understand that the protests were fading, and we decided it was time for the resistance to shift into another form.” This video was recorded at our request by the Center for National Resistance, which coordinates resistance in the occupied territories. The partisan answers the questions pic.twitter.com/OeW442mEVY

— hromadske (@HromadskeUA) July 11, 2022

The man in the video says that after going underground his group began doing street art: painting slogans and pro-Ukrainian symbols on city streets, producing leaflets that threatened occupiers or encouraged Ukrainians. Another front of the group’s work was relaying information about movements of Russian forces.

“We tried to hang our leaflets, leave our art along the routes of their patrols. We showed them that they are enemies in this city. That really put pressure on them: patrol routes were intensified, resources were reduced, and it also affected collaborators. After the well-known explosions and our leaflets, collaborators are afraid to voice their treacherous positions aloud in public because they realize they are enemies,” the man recounts.

Moreover, the resistance movement motivated other townspeople to act decisively, including through sabotage, he adds. Later his group noticed that new resistance cells appeared in the city, which also posted leaflets and painted graffiti. The resistance movement grew.

“Our main goal is to make the ground burn under their feet. And today we are succeeding”

The law on national resistance was adopted by Ukrainian parliamentarians shortly before the full-scale invasion — on 27 January. Lawmakers defined national resistance as including territorial defense, the resistance movement, and preparation of citizens for resistance. The last element is nonviolent opposition. It is precisely this that the Center for National Resistance, created in March, engages in. The Center has an ambitious task — to prepare all adult Ukrainians to resist the occupiers.

The resistance movement is coordinated by the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Most often these are professional soldiers who carry out combat tasks in temporarily occupied territories. Most likely, they are the ones blowing up railways or collaborators, but they rarely report on their operations. Information about their missions is classified. The SSO command has only once reported the results of partisan work — the blowing up of a bridge in southern Ukraine.

In other cases it is impossible to definitively identify the perpetrators of attacks and strikes behind Russian lines, although Ukrainian authorities hint at partisan activity.

After 24 February, explosions were heard in all major occupied cities. In Enerhodar and Melitopol attempts were made on the “gouleiters.” There have been loud, smoky incidents from time to time in the port of Berdyansk. Thus, on 24 March, the Armed Forces of Ukraine sank the large landing ship Saratov. Kherson also keeps appearing in the news, where a collaborator and the head of colony No. 90, Yevhen Soboliev, and MP Oleksiy Kovalov, who moved to Kherson and began collaborating with the occupiers, were wounded during explosions. In one of the attacks Dmytro Savluchenko was killed — the so-called head of the family, youth, and sports department of the Russian military-civilian administration.

“This resistance movement is in communication with the security forces, with the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov says. “Today this phenomenon is more targeted at countering the military aggression of the Rashist Federation, and its main goal is to paralyze the movement of the Russian Federation’s rail transport, the delivery of ammunition, military equipment and, of course, everything that makes the Rashists’ stay on our territory uncomfortable.”

It seems the Melitopol partisans are achieving that. The British magazine The Economist called this city the center of the partisan movement. Thus, on 3 July unknown individuals blew up the railway bridge between Melitopol and Tokmak, which the Russians were using to transport weapons. Fedorov stated that this was the work of Resistance Forces. Ukrainian intelligence reported that 70 Russian servicemen were killed in Melitopol during night patrols.

“There is evidence that this is the result of the work of the Ukrainian resistance movement,” the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense said.

The mayor of Melitopol speaks very cautiously about who is conducting partisan actions in the city, calling them “people with different qualifications.” Such caution is linked to the reprisals the Russians carry out. After each successful action, arrests follow, Fedorov adds.

The occupiers have intensified persecution in Enerhodar as well, says mayor Dmytro Orlov. The situation is tense, and the partisan movement is not so massive because there are many occupiers in the city, and most young people left, Orlov explains. In addition, the Russians seized the video surveillance system and can easily track movements.

“It is hard for the guys to be under pressure. They began to be taken to basements quite actively. Then they are released so one betrays another, and they blackmail entire families,” Orlov says.

The fact that explosions frighten collaborators can be seen from their reaction. Kherson collaborators began walking the streets in body armor and with security. The so-called “head of the people’s administration” of Enerhodar, Andriy Shevchyk, appointed by the occupiers, was injured in the explosion on 22 May. Although he returned to work, he took twice as many bodyguards. Now explosive technicians also constantly accompany him, Orlov says.

The Russian appointee in Melitopol, Yevhen Balitsky, after the explosion near his house on 30 May moved, but his new address is well known to Ukrainian security forces, warns Ivan Fedorov.

“Now they are afraid to leave their apartments, they look around corners, so our main goal is to make the ground burn under their feet. And today we are succeeding,” says the mayor of Melitopol.

“There are people resisting the occupiers in every community”

“Everyone must become a partisan in their place — whether that’s a cleaner in some building or the director of a municipal institution,” says the spokesman for the Center for National Resistance, describing his mission. He asks that his last name not be revealed for security reasons. He says that he and other participants in the resistance movement are known to five to ten people. This is necessary so that if one group is detained, it is not possible to expose all the others.

The SSO created a website that teaches forms of resistance and explains how to take care of your own safety in occupied territories. On the site you can learn how to use a VPN, how to behave in captivity, or how to steal a Russian tank or set up an ambush.

Here is how the SSO advises preparing to carry out resistance actions.

You must always have an alibi. Plan an alibi in advance. It should be simple and comprehensible.

Try to take actions that could be attributed to a large number of people. For example, a sabotage action on the street after dark that you could carry out against a military vehicle or truck is another example of an action in which it is almost impossible to blame you.

You should try to damage only those objects and materials that are used by the enemy. Primarily fuel and lubricants, food, medications.

After committing a simple act of sabotage, restrain yourself from the temptation to stay at the scene and look at the result. Observers attract suspicion more often.

On YouTube the Center launched SABOTAGEVLOG, which teaches how to make occupiers’ lives harder. Here is one example of municipal sabotage suggested by the intelligence officers: “Do you work as a plumber or cleaner? Actions previously carried out on the sewage or water supply system will give you a legitimate reason to access an occupier’s residence, even by his invitation or prompting. You do not need to install tripwires or a camera — that’s too risky. Can you hide a phone? Set an alarm with a wonderful recording ‘We will kill you all’ in the sleeping quarters. Unfortunately, such an action will most likely be one-time and the phone won’t survive, but the deeper and closer to the occupier this track is played, the better.”

Nonviolent resistance has spread even to territories occupied as early as 2014 years ago. Pro-Ukrainian graffiti has appeared in Donetsk. In Crimea partisans post leaflets hinting at the destruction of the Crimean Bridge and threats. In Yevpatoria the administration building was splashed with yellow and blue paint. On Telegram unknown people created a channel “Krym — kraj partyzanskoy slavy” (Crimea — the Land of Partisan Glory), where they publish information about resistance on the peninsula.

The spokesman for the Center for National Resistance explains that the level of resistance in occupied cities may seem different because it depends on the number of people. The more residents, the larger the partisan movement. That is why news about Kherson partisans most often appears in the media.

“It is harder to get information out of territories where Russia has been for eight years, and it is more difficult for people to carry out these tasks. There the police regime is already fully established. The danger is terrible. On territories occupied after 24 February, fierce resistance is happening everywhere. In Mariupol the Russians conducted sweeps and people were in hiding. Now the first actions of our guys behind enemy lines are starting. People understand better how to resist,” the spokesman for the Center for National Resistance announces new actions.

Residents of occupied territories also resort to sabotage. According to the Ministry of Education, in Kherson out of 60 school principals only two agreed to cooperate with the Russians. Most of the city’s entrepreneurs refused to work for rubles, and homeowners’ association heads did not provide lists of people who left and left vacant apartments, says Yuriy Sobolevskyi, first deputy chairman of the Kherson Regional Council.

“In fact, in every community there remain people who resist the occupiers. First and foremost this is the maintenance of patriotism in the region: leaflets are constantly posted and distributed, our flags and patriotic graffiti are hung. It is very difficult to do because if the Russians catch you it can be very dangerous. But Kherson region is currently an extremely patriotic region. All our dear Kherson residents are very much waiting for the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Sobolevskyi says.

In some districts of Zaporizhzhia region the occupiers did not receive up-to-date population lists for conducting the “referendum” because municipal bodies destroyed them, the spokesman for the Center for National Resistance says. Mass resistance by the population forced the Russians to postpone the fake incorporation of the territories into the Russian Federation for the third time. The spokesman explains that when the Kremlin orders its general to hold a “referendum” in the spring and he fails the task, Moscow reprimands him, which delays time, lowers the Russians’ morale — and they postpone the “referendum” again.

“Of course, it is uncomfortable for them when they see that they are not welcomed here. They were not met with towels, so they behave rather carefully and try not to take food or drinks from locals, probably worrying about their health,” says Enerhodar mayor Dmytro Orlov.

In Kherson both occupiers and collaborators are nervous. Partisans also warn locals against cooperating with the Russians, says Yuriy Sobolevskyi, first deputy head of the Kherson regional council. Because of the powerful partisan movement, the Russians constantly tighten filtration measures, conduct searches, and abduct people, the official adds.

Peaceful local resistance is an important complement to the work of combat partisans, the SSO believes.

“A leaflet, graffiti, a Telegram channel, a threat on a scrap of paper, a sticker on a car. It may seem insignificant — it’s not blowing up a car. No, believe me, when for three months some private or officer from Rostov lives in a city where everyone wishes him death, where he is without family, and can’t accomplish anything, his command pressures him because he is not coping with tasks, this inflicts a colossal blow to the occupier’s moral and psychological state,” the spokesman for the Center for National Resistance believes.

He hopes that when the Armed Forces liberate occupied cities, the Russians will retreat faster under pressure from the resistance movement in the rear.

“Support not only with words from the telethon, but with actions”

The resistance movement not only demoralizes the Russians but also encourages locals who have been living under occupation for four months. “Despair” is a word often used by interviewees speaking with hromadske.

“People somehow get used to the new reality,” Kherson journalist Ivan Antypenko says. “The narrative that Ukraine abandoned us continues to be promoted. And it will work. If Ukraine did not come, then it abandoned us — that’s a very simple connection that ordinary people in villages will make. ‘Yes, it’s hard, but they don’t shoot, for example, in Henichesk district. Well, prices have changed to rubles, some people left. There is food, people planted gardens, set up some business. You can take vegetables to Crimea. You can live.’ We must not allow this narrative to take hold.”

According to Yuriy Sobolevskyi, the Russians convince locals that Kherson region is unnecessary to Ukraine and that Russia came here to stay. To prevent despair from prevailing, journalist Ivan Antypenko calls for reminding people in different ways that Kherson is Ukraine.

“Not only with words from the telethon, but with actions, including those carried out by the resistance movement,” the journalist says.

Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov mentions another effective method — centers for internally displaced people in government-controlled territories where people can seek support. And the Center for National Resistance advises Ukrainians to communicate more often with people in occupied territories — write even to simple acquaintances to support them with words.

Author: Diana Butsko; hromadske.