How the covert Ukrainian resistance movement is operating behind Russian lines

Published

7 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 the Second World War, 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.”

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Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney named prime minister of Canada – succeeding Justin Trudeau

Published

3 hours ago

March 10, 2025

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Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney named prime minister of Canada - succeeding Justin Trudeau

Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney has been named Canadian prime minister after winning the Liberal Party leadership race in a landslide victory.

Mr Carney, who also used to be the head of Canada’s central bank, emerged as the frontrunner in the contest as the country deals with the impact of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

He ended up winning 85.9% of the vote.

During his victory speech, he told the crowd: “Donald Trump, as we know, has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell and how we make a living.

“He’s attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”

Mr Carney said Canada would keep retaliatory tariffs in place until “the Americans show us respect”.

Mr Trump’s tariffs against Canada and his talk of making the country America’s 51st state have infuriated Canadians.

The American national anthem has been repeatedly booed at NHL and NBA games.

“Think about it. If they succeeded, they would destroy our way of life… America is a melting pot. Canada is a mosaic,” Mr Carney added.

“America is not Canada. Canada will never ever be part of America in any way, shape or form.”

The 59-year-old will replace Justin Trudeau, who has served as prime minister since 2015.

Mr Trudeau announced he was stepping down in January after facing calls to quit from a chorus of his own MPs.

The 53-year-old’s popularity had declined as food and house prices rose.

Mr Carney will now have to decide when to call a general election in Canada – which must take place on or before 20 October.

In 2013, he became the first non-UK citizen to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694.

His appointment was popular in Britain after Canada recovered from the 2008 financial crisis faster than many other countries.

During leadership debates, Mr Carney argued he was the only person prepared to handle Trump.

“I know how to manage crises,” he said.

“In a situation like this, you need experience in terms of crisis management, you need negotiating skills.”

The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered the Liberal Party’s chances in a parliamentary election.

World

Donald Trump says Ukraine ‘may not survive’ war against Russia even if US support continues

Published

6 hours ago

March 9, 2025

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Donald Trump says Ukraine 'may not survive' war against Russia even if US support continues

US President Donald Trump has suggested Ukraine “may not survive” the war against Russia even if American support continued.

In an interview with Fox News channel’s ‘Sunday Morning Futures’, Mr Trump was asked about his controversial decision to pause support for Kyiv as it fends off Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Mr Trump, who had a disastrous meeting with Mr Zelenskyy at the White House last week, was asked about a warning from Polish President Andrzej Duda “that without American support, Ukraine will not survive”.

Asked if he was “comfortable” with that outcome, the US president said: “Well, it may not survive anyway.

“But we have some weaknesses with Russia. You know, it takes two,” Mr Trump added.

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It comes as Mr Zelenskyy will visit Saudi Arabia for a Monday meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, while Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives will meet with a US delegation on Tuesday.

Mr Trump’s latest remarks come amid global concern over the souring relationship between Ukraine and the US, which alongside the EU has been Kyiv’s main backer in its defence against Russia’s three-year land, air and sea invasion.

The US paused military aid and the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine this month after a meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy on 28 February descended into acrimony in front of the world’s media.

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Mr Trump ordered the pause as he attempts to put pressure on Mr Zelenskyy to negotiate a ceasefire deal with Russia.

Mr Trump has privately made it clear to aides that a signed minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv will not be enough to restart aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reported earlier on Sunday.

The 78-year-old president is said to want the deal signed, but also wants to see a change in Mr Zelenskyy’s attitude towards peace talks.

Officials have told NBC News that Mr Trump also wants Mr Zelenskyy to make some movement towards holding elections in Ukraine and possibly stepping down as his country’s leader.

Mr Zelenskyy said in a recent interview he would be ready to step down as Ukraine’s president if it meant his country would become a NATO member and find peace.

That came after he was branded a “dictator” by Mr Trump as Ukraine had not held fresh elections – despite laws prohibiting it during wartime.

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Russian forces creep through disused gas pipeline in attempt to launch surprise attack on Ukrainian soldiers

Published

12 hours ago

March 9, 2025

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Russian forces creep through disused gas pipeline in attempt to launch surprise attack on Ukrainian soldiers

Russian special forces crept through a disused gas pipeline for several miles to launch a surprise attack on Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region, Ukraine’s military and pro-Moscow war bloggers have said.

Footage circulating on the Telegram app claims to show the elite soldiers crouching as they make their way through the darkness of the pipe to the town of Sudzha.

Some can be heard cursing in Russian and complaining about the commanders who sent them on the mission.

One of the soldiers is heard saying: “F*****g hell, where the f*** are we, boys?”

Another says: “Where does the pipe go? To Sudzha, for f**** sake, that’s f***ing crazy.”

Later in the clip a soldier is heard saying: “We’ll get there of course, but indignantly, because we’re f*****g sick of the f*****g command.”

He later adds: “They took our f*****g assault rifles too.”

Two of the soldiers are seen smoking cigarettes while a separate image shared on Telegram shows an operative wearing a gas mask.

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The special forces soldiers walked around nine miles (15km) through the pipeline which Moscow had until recently used to send gas to Europe, according to Telegram posts by Ukrainian-born pro-Kremlin blogger Yuri Podolyaka.

In the footage, the soldiers suggest the mission requires them to walk seven miles through the pipe.

Mr Podolyaka says some of them spent several days in the pipeline before striking Ukrainian units from the rear near Sudzha.

The operation formed part of efforts by Russia to recapture areas of Kursk which were seized by thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in a shock offensive in August last year.

Another pro-Russian war blogger, who uses the alias Two Majors, said a major battle is under way in Sudzha after Moscow’s special forces crept through the pipe.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s general staff confirmed on Saturday that Russian soldiers had used the pipeline in an attempt to gain a foothold, but airborne assault forces promptly detected them, and they responded with rocket, artillery and drone attacks that destroyed Moscow’s units.

“The enemy’s losses in Sudzha are very high,” the general staff reported.

It comes as Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces shared a video on Telegram on Saturday which it claims shows Kyiv’s forces repelling Russian forces in Kursk with airstrikes.

Sky News has not independently verified the footage.

Months after Kyiv’s forces seized parts of Kursk, Ukrainian soldiers are weary and bloodied by relentless assaults of more than 50,000 Russian troops, including some from Moscow’s ally North Korea.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers run the risk of being encircled, open-source maps of the battlefield showed on Friday.

Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said this morning that it had captured a settlement in Kursk and another in Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Russia also launched heavy aerial attacks overnight on Ukraine into Saturday – with at least 22 people killed, including 11 in the frontline town of Dobropilla in Ukraine’s embattled eastern Donetsk region.

Ukrainian president Voldymyr Zelenskyy described the attacks as a “vile and inhumane intimidation tactic” by Russia.

The attacks come after the US paused military aid and the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine this month after a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Mr Zelenskyy descended into a confrontation in front of the world’s media.

The Trump administration’s stance on Ukraine and apparent favouring of Moscow has sparked concern among European leaders.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics told Sky News on Sunday that European countries should “absolutely” introduce conscription as he conceded the continent was “quite weak” militarily in the face of the Russia threat.

Meanwhile, Russian officials have been criticised after presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders on International Women’s Day.

Russia is often accused of throwing its troops into a “meat grinder” with little regard for their lives.

The local branch of government in the northwestern Russian town of Polyarniye Zori defended itself against the backlash, saying critics were making “callous and provocative interpretations” of the gifts.