![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220611183548im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine.svg/300px-2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine.svg.png)
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia occupied vast portions of the territory of Ukraine. Some territories, more precisely parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as well as the entire Autonomous Republic of Crimea, were already under Russian occupation since 2014. According to a report in The Guardian, partisan groups began to be organized in the summer of 2021, trained by Ukrainian Special Forces.[1] After the start of the invasion, these individuals became active in those territories occupied by Russia, which included cities like Kherson and Melitopol.
Resistance movement
On 21 April, on a television interview, the mayor of Russian-occupied Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, said that, according to Ukrainian intelligence, Ukrainian partisans had killed 100 Russian soldiers in the city, primarily Russian police patrols and mostly through ambushes at night. Feodorov also claimed that the Russian army was struggling with dealing with these partisans as the majority of the population of Melitopol was against Russian presence.[2]
On 26 April, the Governor of Mykolaiv Oblast, Vitaliy Kim, said that there had been a resistance against the Russian army in the Kherson Oblast for two months and that Ukrainian partisans had killed 80 Russian troops in the region.[3]
On 28 April, 24 Kanal reported that partisans in occupied Nova Kakhovka had left a banner with a message on a pole in the city. It said as follows: "Russian occupier! Know! Kakhovka is Ukraine! We are close! Our people are already working here! Death awaits you! Kakhovka is Ukraine!".[4]
On 30 April, members of the so-called Berdiansk Partisan Army (BPA) posted a video on Telegram calling for Russian troops to leave Berdiansk. They announced that they were organizing their forces and that they were "ready to come out of the shadows". The account of this organization was used during the invasion for gathering and showing evidence of Russian crimes in the city and information about collaborators with the Russian army in Berdiansk.[5]
On 13 May, Oleksii Reznikov, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, spoke of the defeats and difficulties that Russian troops had been experiencing in Ukraine ever since the start of the invasion. Reznikov also spoke of the partisans in Kherson, Melitopol and other localities, calling them "an important contribution to common victory".[6]
On 22 May, in occupied Enerhodar, Ukrainian partisans detonated an explosive in front of a residential building where the Russian-appointed mayor of the city Andrei Shevchik was located. Shevchik and his bodyguards sustained injuries of varying severity, and Shevchik ended up in intensive care. He was first taken to a hospital in Enerhodar and then to another in Melitopol.[7]
In late May, six Russian border guards at the Zernovo border checkpoint in northern Ukraine were reportedly killed last week[when?] when their position came under attack[where?]. Two days later a bomb exploded near the office of Yevgeny Balitsky, a pro-Russian official in Melitopol.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b Peter Beaumont and Isabel Koshiw, "'The occupier should never feel safe’: rise in partisan attacks in Ukraine", The Guardian, 6 June 2022 (last accessed 7 June 2022)
- ^ Korshak, Stefan (22 April 2022). "Mayor claims partisans killed more than 100 Russian soldiers in occupied Melitopol". Kyiv Post.
- ^ Kovalchuk, Irina (26 April 2022). "В Херсонской области партизаны уничтожили десятки оккупантов – Ким". Segodnya (in Russian).
- ^ Hema, Mykhaylo (28 April 2022). ""Бо Каховка – це Україна": партизани залишили окупантам послання" (in Ukrainian). 24 Kanal.
- ^ Polishchuk, Mykola (30 April 2022). "Бердянські партизани озвучили свої вимоги до окупантів та колаборантів". Glavcom (in Ukrainian).
- ^ Kucheryavets, Maria (13 May 2022). ""Світ отримав шанс перемогти диктатуру". Резніков розповів про подвійну поразку РФ" (in Ukrainian). RBK Group.
- ^ Semenova, Inna (23 May 2022). ""Самоліквідація" мостів і окупантів. У захоплених містах України розгортається рух опору: що відомо про його наймасштабніші прояви" (in Ukrainian). NV.