For several months they did not show themselves in any way and waited for instructions from Kyiv – operatives trained to conduct partisan operations in occupied territory.
Russian intelligence agencies hunted them down, searching Ukrainian men for tattoos that could identify them as former military personnel and, with the help of local collaborators, compiling lists of potential resistance leaders. Some were caught, but the survivors became part of a new strategy: operating behind enemy lines, “to knock at least a few teeth out of the Russian mouth,” as a Ukrainian official described it.
The guerrilla network was activated at the end of July. At the same time, Ukrainian special forces began to conduct their own operations in the occupied territories, including the use of drones with weapons on board. The HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems that arrived from the United States also helped, allowing the Ukrainians to strike at a distance of up to 80 km behind the front line.
The goal is to take the war behind enemy lines and “show them what chaos is,” says the Ukrainian official, who requested anonymity to discuss military strategy. This has already forced Russian troops to waste time and resources defending their bases in the rear, slowing down supplies to front-line units.
One of the most striking results of the new strategy was the destruction of naval aviation aircraft at the Saki airfield in Crimea. Another, according to a second Ukrainian official, was the blowing up of the main railway bridge in Melitopol.
The attacks in Crimea confirm the Ukrainians’ ability to operate behind Russian lines “thanks to a combination of the incredible bravery of these people and new capabilities,” a Western official says.
In addition, in the occupied territories – in Melitopol, Kherson – partisans have carried out a series of explosions and assassination attempts on collaborators in recent weeks. “This is exactly how the French Resistance acted [во время Второй мировой войны] — removing targets, undermining infrastructure,” says a retired British special forces veteran who trained the Ukrainians.
“Targets” are also removed by special detachments of snipers, who, according to a representative of the Ukrainian military, are sent in groups of two in the south of Ukraine to hunt for representatives of the Russian high command. The task can take a week to complete, “it is very difficult, slow, dangerous work,” says the second official:
But they hunt very important targets. Even one success is a big victory.
Sometimes it is not possible to achieve results. In the north, drones are used to track artillery crews, but there have been few successful strikes against them, and Russian artillery continues to shell Kharkov, the second official said.
The Russian army has been forced to move ammunition depots and operational control centers further away from the front line, but it continues to bombard positions of Ukrainian troops. For the actions of partisans and saboteurs to have a noticeable impact on the situation at the front, Ukrainians will have to “maintain the current level of activity,” says a Western official.
In Kyiv they hope that actions behind enemy lines will also have a psychological effect. “Imagine, you are a Russian soldier and day after day a bomb explodes somewhere near you. Do you think such a soldier will be able to sleep?” – says the second Ukrainian official.