How the covert Ukrainian resistance movement is operating behind Russian lines

Published

3 months ago

August 26, 2024

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One of the most secret weapons to combat Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has started to raise its profile.

A new video posted on social media seeks to promote the covert activities of a network of Ukrainian civilians, living – and fighting – behind Russian lines.

Run by the Ukrainian special forces, this resistance movement is growing, according to its commander, who said any adult – old, young, male, female – can join.

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They just need to be loyal to Ukraine – and brave.

In an echo of Britain’s Special Operations Executive that ran missions behind enemy lines during World War Two, the tasks of the Ukrainian resistance inside territory captured by Moscow include espionage, sabotage and “eliminating” Russian forces, the commander told Sky News.

He said the men and women of the resistance are active in Crimea as well as parts of southern and eastern Ukraine and have carried out jobs within Russia.

Groups are also being created – as a precaution – in parts of Ukraine that may yet fall under Russian control.

In addition, civilians in Russia who oppose Vladimir Putin’s rule have started learning from Ukraine’s resistance to help them with their own operations.

“Of course, the work that our people are doing is dangerous,” said the commander, a special forces colonel, who asked to be anonymous for security reasons. We are calling him Mykola.

“Many of our people have died during their work and many of them end up in Russian prisons,” Mykola said.

“But this does not scare us, because our goal justifies the losses we are suffering.”

It is the first time the head of the Resistance of Ukrainian Special Operations Forces – the name of the military branch that runs the resistance movement – has given an interview.

“Among us are those people who calmly, quietly, covertly perform their tasks without expecting a quick reward or glory,” the colonel said, speaking at a hotel in Kyiv.

“The main motivation of our people, all of us, is freedom. We want to defend our country… the Russians will have to either kill us all – or leave.”

Video footage shared with Sky News by the Ukrainian special forces purportedly shows a number of resistance missions – though the commander was very reluctant to talk about any specific operation because of the danger to his people on the ground.

One clip from last year purportedly shows members of the resistance setting fire to electricity transmitters in Russia’s southwestern region of Voronezh, next door to Ukraine.

There is also footage from 2023 of individuals, their faces covered, spray-painting in black the logo of the resistance – two arrows pointing in opposite directions, and a dot in the middle – on the side of buildings in an occupied part of Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

In addition, a video from the first days of the full-scale invasion in 2022, offered evidence of a member of the resistance filming Russian troop movements in the town of Irpin, just outside Kyiv, during a failed push by Moscow to assault the capital.

The commander said the resistance is used to monitor Russian troops and share information on how the Russian authorities are operating in an occupied area.

They have more active roles too.

Some members are deployed to disrupt supply lines to make it harder for Moscow to transport food and ammunition to its frontline forces.

“We also try to kill the military personnel of the Russian Federation at all costs – and destroy their military equipment,” Mykola said.

The information provided by resistance members is shared with the Ukrainian armed forces to help coordinate military strikes and other offensives, including into Crimea.

The commander said the resistance will be key in any future push to force the Russian military to withdraw from the peninsula that they have occupied since 2014.

“A lot of our subordinates there are carrying out reconnaissance missions,” Mykola said.

“It’s not surprising that the FSB [Russian security services] is doing a lot of work [in Crimea]. But they still can’t catch our people.”

Hinting at the weight of responsibility on his shoulders for being in charge of such high-risk operations, he added: “Thank God for that.”

Mykola said the resistance began informally after Russia first invaded Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine a decade ago.

However, it became a more formal structure, under the command of the special operations forces, in the run-up to Putin’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

He described the programme as being like an iceberg.

Mykola said he sat on the visible part at the top of the iceberg, with special forces officers – who are in charge of different parts of the resistance – placed beneath him and then the vast network of resistance members spreading out underneath them.

Asked how big the resistance was, he said: “I can’t tell you a specific number, because this information is secret. But I can tell you that there are thousands of these people… I am happy to see it is growing.”

The promotion video directs anyone who is interested in joining to contact the special forces team via a website.

“We have now started a campaign to popularise the resistance movement and we are creating the conditions for every citizen of Ukraine to be able to communicate with us in a confidential way and to offer their services,” Mykola said.

While boosting its ranks, this open-door policy also raises the risk of pro-Russian infiltrators penetrating the network. But the commander said his team was alert to this and they cut ties with anyone they suspect as being a mole working for the other side.

As well as expanding the resistance in Ukraine, Mykalo said his unit has recently started to receive expressions of interest from civilians inside Russia.

He said any Russian resistance would not be run by his team but they could learn lessons from Ukrainian resistance operations.

“It is a part of the resistance, but their resistance is against Putin’s regime. It is not our movement that we organise inside of our country,” Mykalo said.

“They are already learning from us and they are starting to use our methods already within the Russian Federation and we see a great potential in those things.”

World

Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to ‘smoke out’ thousands of illegal miners

Published

9 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to 'smoke out' thousands of illegal miners

A body has been recovered from a South African mine after police cut off basic supplies in an effort to force around 4,000 illegal miners to resurface.

The body has emerged from the closed gold mine in the northwest town of Stilfontein a day after South Africa’s government said it would not help the illegal miners.

Around 20 people have surfaced from the mineshaft this week as police wait nearby to arrest all those appearing from underground.

It comes a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to “smoke them [the miners] out”.

The move is part of the police’s “Close the Hole” operation, whereby officers cut off supplies of food, water and other basic necessities to get those who have entered illegally to come out.

Local reports suggest the supply routes were cut off at the mine around two months ago, with relatives of the miners seen in the area as the stand-off continues.

A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.

It comes after South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters on Wednesday that the government would not send any help to the illegal miners, known in the country as zama zamas, because they are involved in a criminal act.

“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped; criminals are to be prosecuted. We didn’t send them there,” Ms Ntshavheni said.

Senior police and defence officials are expected to visit the area on Friday to “reinforce the government’s commitment to bringing this operation to a safe and lawful conclusion”, according to a media advisory from the police.

In the last few weeks, over 1,000 miners have surfaced at various mines in South Africa’s North West province, where police have cut off supplies.

Many of the miners were reported to be weak, hungry and sickly after going for weeks without basic supplies.

Illegal mining remains common in South Africa’s old gold-mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to dig for any possible remaining deposits.

The illegal miners are often from neighbouring countries, and police say the illegal operations involve larger syndicates that employ the miners.

Their presence in closed mines has also created problems with nearby communities, which complain that the illegal miners commit crimes ranging from robberies to rape.

Illegal mining groups are known to be heavily armed and disputes between rival groups sometimes result in fatal confrontations.

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Ukrainian frontline commander warns: ‘The world is scared of Russia and losing is not only our problem’

Published

12 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Ukrainian frontline commander warns: 'The world is scared of Russia and losing is not only our problem'

In the courtyard of a farmhouse now home to soldiers of the Ukrainian army’s 47th mechanised brigade, I’m introduced to a weary-looking unit by their commander Captain Oleksandr “Sasha” Shyrshyn.

We are about 10km from the border with Russia, and beyond it lies the Kursk region Ukraine invaded in the summer – and where this battalion is now fighting.

The 47th is a crack fighting assault unit.

They’ve been brought to this area from the fierce battles in the country’s eastern Donbas region to bolster Ukrainian forces already here.

War latest: Russia ready to carry out ‘massive attack’

Captain Shyrshyn explains that among the many shortages the military has to deal with, the lack of infantry is becoming a critical problem.

Sasha is just 30 years old, but he is worldly-wise. He used to run an organisation helping children in the country’s east before donning his uniform and going to war.

He is famous in Ukraine and is regarded as one of the country’s top field commanders, who isn’t afraid to express his views on the war and how it’s being waged.

His nom de guerre is ‘Genius’, a nickname given to him by his men.

‘Don’t worry, it’s not a minefield’

Sasha invited me to see one of the American Bradley fighting vehicles his unit uses.

We walk down a muddy lane before he says it’s best to go cross-country.

“We can go that way, don’t worry it’s not a minefield,” he jokes.

He leads us across a muddy field and into a forest where the vehicle is hidden from Russian surveillance drones that try to hunt both American vehicles and commanders.

Sasha shows me a picture of the house they had been staying in only days before – it was now completely destroyed after a missile strike.

Fortunately, neither he, nor any of his men, were there at the time.

“They target commanders,” he says with a smirk.

‘The world is scared of Russia’

It takes me a moment or two to realise we are only a few steps away from the Bradley, dug in and well hidden beneath the trees.

Sasha tells me the Bradley is the finest vehicle he has ever used.

A vehicle so good, he says, it’s keeping the Ukrainian army going in the face of Russia’s overwhelming numbers of soldiers.

He explains: “Almost all our work on the battlefield is cooperation infantry with the Bradley. So we use it for evacuations, for moving people from one place to another, as well as for fire-covering.

“This vehicle is very safe and has very good characteristics.”

Billions of dollars in military aid has been given to Ukraine by the United States, and this vehicle is one of the most valuable assets the US has provided.

Ukraine is running low on men to fight, and the weaponry it has is not enough, especially if it can’t fire long-range missiles into Russia itself – which it is currently not allowed to do.

If President-elect Donald Trump cuts the supply of military aid, the Ukrainians will lose – it’s that simple.

Sasha says: “We have a lack of weapons, we have a lack of artillery, we have a lack of infantry, and as the world doesn’t care about justice, and they don’t want to finish the war by our win, they are afraid of Russia.

“I’m sorry but they’re scared, they’re scared, and it’s not the right way.”

Like pretty much everyone in Ukraine, Sasha is waiting to see what the US election result will mean for his country.

He is sceptical about a deal with Russia.

“Our enemy only understands the language of power. And you cannot finish the war in 24 hours, or during the year without hard decisions, without a fight, so it’s impossible. It’s just talking without results,” he tells me.

‘Losing will be not only our problem’

These men expect the fierce battles inside Kursk to intensify in the coming days.

Indeed, alongside the main supply route into Kursk, workers are already building new defensive positions – unfurling miles of razor wire and digging bunkers for the Ukrainian army if it finds itself in retreat.

Sasha and his men are realistic about support fatigue from the outside world but will keep fighting to the last if they have to.

“I understand this is only our problem, it’s only our issue, and we have to fight this battle, like we have to defend ourselves, it’s our responsibility,” Sasha said.

But he points out everyone should realise just how critical this moment in time is.

“If we look at it widely, we have to understand that us losing will be not only our problem, but it will be for all the world.”

Stuart Ramsay reports from northeastern Ukraine with camera operator Toby Nash, and producers Dominique Van Heerden, Azad Safarov, and Nick Davenport.

World

Spain flooding: New weather warnings issued – as country counts flooding cost

Published

12 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Spain flooding: New weather warnings issued - as country counts flooding cost

A weather warning has been issued for parts of Spain, as the country counts the cost of recent flooding.

The orange warnings are in place for parts of southwestern Spain – the area around Seville down towards Gibraltar.

Up to 8cm (3ins) of rain could fall within 12 hours, but the weekend looks much more settled in the country.

The latest warnings come just two weeks after flash flooding in Valencia and other parts of the country killed more than 200 people.

Malaga saw 14.2cm (5.6ins) of rainfall on Wednesday – Spain’s highest of the day – most of which fell in six hours.

All train services were halted in Malaga. Some flights have now resumed after the initial disruption.

Emergency services in the province have moved 3,000 people from homes at risk of flooding close to the Guadalhorce River in the west of the city.

Jamie Marchant, 29, from Caerphilly in South Wales travelled to Malaga last Wednesday.

He told Sky News that “debris” had been left behind by the recent rainfall in the region.

“Everyone is pitching in to clean up and some shops are opening as usual,” he added.

Orange warnings for the Valencia region in eastern Spain expired earlier on Thursday.

The adverse weather could lead to total insured losses of more than €4bn (£3.33bn), according to credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS.

Much of the claims are expected to be covered by the Spanish government’s insurance pool, the agency said, but insurance premiums are likely to increase.