Ukrainians In Russian Occupied Territory Rise Up & Kill Putin Soldiers

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There have been apparently significant resistance operations against Russian occupiers in Ukrainian territory held by Putin’s troops. “Ukraine claims its partisans have killed more than 100 Russian soldiers behind enemy lines in Melitopol,” a new report from The Economist says. Melitopol is among the Ukrainian cities occupied by Russian troops.

There have been a variety of specific instances inside Melitopol involving apparent action by Ukrainian partisans against the Russian occupation presence. “Every few days brings a surprising report: an armoured train destroyed and a grenade attack on a command post (May 18th); railway tracks and a radar station blown up (May 22nd); a pro-Ukrainian rally (May 29th); and a collaborator’s house hit by an explosion (May 30th),” according to The Economist. Ivan Fedorov — the town’s mayor — added: “Our people are doing everything to make sure the land burns under the feet of the occupiers.” He’s in Ukrainian-held territory after an earlier abduction by Russian troops.

Elsewhere, similar operations are also continuing. In Kherson, an airbase under Russian control has apparently seen nearly two dozen explosions. Andrii Shevchyk, working as the Russian-backed mayor in occupied Enerhodar, faced an (unsuccessful) assassination attempt. And it continues: an intercepted phone call between a Russian soldier and his girlfriend revealed that Russian troops in Izyum were apparently provided with poisoned pies by an elderly woman. Eight Russian personnel who apparently ate what she provided later died. And extending the focus beyond Ukrainian territory, The Economist also claims that “Ukrainian special forces do appear to be targeting supply chains in Russia’s border provinces,” citing an example of an apparent strike on an oil-storage facility in Bryansk — a Russian city. (Ukraine doesn’t appear to have confirmed such operations in Russia.)

There’s a portion of the Ukrainian defense apparatus called the Special Operations Forces that apparently deals with partisan activities in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. A former operative with the Special Operations Forces (SSO) explained to The Economist as follows: “Say the task is to stop the enemy from moving more reserves to Melitopol… The SSO assigns special forces the task of blowing up a bridge, it asks partisans to damage the railway, and it gets [psychological operations (psy-ops) personnel] to print leaflets to say we’re on the watch. So in the end, only half the troops dare to come.” All of these developments are apparently having a clear impact on the morale of Russian troops targeted by or adjacent to the efforts: “Every fucking night we’re fighting with diversionary groups who come into the village… Some of us have had enough. We’re getting the fuck out of here,” a Russian soldier said on another intercepted call.

Yevgeny Balitsky, who’s currently the Russian-backed leader of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, where Melitopol sits, was apparently targeted by another recent explosion in Melitopol that figures on Russia’s side blamed on Ukrainian partisans. Russian-backed local authorities credited the blast to a car bomb that went off outside Balitsky’s office in Melitopol. The incident happened late last month. Confirmation of the origin of the blast wasn’t immediately available. Serhii Kuzan, who leads the non-governmental organization known as the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation, recently stated regarding the actions of Ukrainian partisans: “It all started with hundreds of informants. Now it is thousands and thousands of people in each area who perform a completely different range of actions, ranging from informing our defense forces about the movement of enemy equipment, enemy personnel, including leadership, the movement of patrols and more.”