Melitopol Partisan Warfare - Russia has said it plans to launch a coordinated campaign in Kiev amid the prospect of launching a guerrilla war in Ukraine.

Iryna Sergeeva of the Ukrainian Ground Defense Forces participates in a military exercise in Kiev, Ukraine, on March 11.

Melitopol Partisan Warfare

Melitopol Partisan Warfare

Iryna Sergeeva, a volunteer of the Ground Defense Forces of Ukraine, takes part in a military exercise in Kiev on March 11. Sergey Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images

Ukraine: At Least 18 People Working For Occupiers Targeted In Attacks

In case it's not clear yet: the Ukrainian military is not following the expected scenario. As the Russian victory was declared by mistake, they were to be defeated within days of the February 24 invasion. On the day of the invasion, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told the Ukrainian ambassador, who was asking for help, that it would be over in a few hours. Instead, the war entered its second month and a Russian victory seemed more remote than ever.

Once their country was invaded and a puppet regime installed, the Ukrainians were forced to turn the war into a one-sided war that would turn the war into a long and bitter quagmire for Russia. But this time the Ukrainians did not listen. Instead of waiting for defeat, they said they plan to launch a joint guerrilla campaign in the coming weeks. Parallel to regular warfare, it is like spring that turns the forest green to provide cover. "Ukrainian Guerrilla Safari Season to Begin Soon." The head of Ukraine's military intelligence, General Krylo Budanov, announced this in late March. "Then the Russians will be left with one ideal scenario: how to survive."

According to reports, the guerilla war announced by Budanov will not start from scratch, because the disorganized popular resistance has already taken place. According to a March 18 report, game hunters captured more than 10 tanks and other vehicles in the northern Poltava province and pursued the retreat of Russian troops. In early March, guerrillas reportedly destroyed a truck convoy near Kharkiv. Elsewhere, on March 11, villagers reported helping police arrest 29 Russian soldiers.

Civilians also play a role in capturing enemy weapons, equipment and supplies and handing them over to Ukrainian forces. On March 23, Ukraine's Chief of Staff released a video of a supply truck carrying what appeared to be Ukrainian civilians at an undisclosed location. In another incident, a group of civilians apparently abandoned a Russian T-80 tank on a muddy field. According to a civilian in the video, he learned to fly the T-80 with instructions he found through Google.

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In addition, peaceful resistance in the form of demonstrations and protests takes place almost daily in Russian-controlled cities such as Kherson, Melitopol, and Enruder. Residents of Kiev and other empty cities were busy preparing Molotov cocktails in case the Russian invaders came.

By far, the most significant civilian involvement in the conflict is the Territorial Guard, a heavily organized volunteer militia under the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian civilians began preparing for irregular warfare weeks before the invasion, but they are reportedly recruiting additional units of the Ground Defense Force to bolster Ukraine's combat capabilities as the war progresses. The missions of these private militias include defending critical infrastructure, supporting regular forces, and countering sabotage and espionage. About 100,000 volunteers and 37,000 reservists enlisted before and during the first few days of the war.

Civilians who have recently joined the militia are believed to be already active as snipers around Kyiv. A Ukrainian Canadian living outside Kiev described one of the activities her unit was involved in: Their [armored vehicles] were bombed by Ukrainian forces and three or four days before When the Russians came out to ask for food and water, they hid in the forests.

Melitopol Partisan Warfare

The Homeland Defense Force is officially separate from partisan or guerrilla resistance movements, which are still in their infancy and in the process of being formed. Details are unclear, but Ukraine's military doctrine sees highly trained special forces in irregular warfare "playing a leading role in organizing, preparing, supporting and conducting resistance movements." They created a virtual National Resistance Center that provides detailed instructions on partisan action, including how to organize attacks, respond to chemical attacks, and organize peaceful resistance. According to the center's website, “In order to take an invisible revenge to intimidate invaders, you must understand tactics, drugs, Internet security, homemade weapons, and nonviolent action. "

From The Melitopol Partisans

The Center also published a manual on civil resistance that includes advice on active resistance, including various forms of subversion, as well as demoralizing occupying forces and other forms of passive resistance. The handbook also provides information on how ordinary people can help resistance movements by providing food, shelter and medicine. A video warns potential subversives to lead a double life among friends and relatives, feigning loyalty to Russia while undermining their rule. While the Internet is not a substitute for combat training, it differs little from the historical example of partisan warfare, where goals and methods were communicated through pamphlets, pamphlets, and word of mouth. Websites today can do this trick easily and efficiently.

Guerrillas and parties around the world are largely made up of farmers and other villagers who know the terrain well, can use shoot-and-run tactics, and can balance raiders in unexpected situations. It will be the same in Ukraine. Especially since Russia was not able to capture the major cities of Ukraine, where urban guerrillas would play a role. Ukrainian hunters can make a particularly big part. This is because hunting is a popular sport in western and northern Ukraine, where the terrain is a combination of forests, deserts and mountains. The number of civilian firearms per 100 citizens in Ukraine is relatively low, 9.9, but these weapons are in rural areas. The number of weapons has obviously increased at this stage. Immediately after the attack, some 20,000 rifles were distributed to stockpiles in Kyiv in preparation for a possible attack on the capital, and weapons were also distributed to other regions.

Thus, many elements of effective guerrilla warfare are in place. The only missing piece is friendly soil, but when the woods and gardens turn green in April, they will provide good cover for the guerrillas. At this time, fighters could systematically infiltrate Russian-occupied areas, especially in the forested northern regions, attacking Russian forces from the rear while regular Ukrainian forces attacked from the front. does

However, most of Ukraine's eastern and southern regions are made up of treeless forests, making them unsuitable for traditional rural guerrilla warfare. However, Russian-occupied cities and towns can be infiltrated by subversives and urban guerrillas of ground defense forces, target soldiers, Rosgvardia occupation police and local collaborators.

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The center also published a handbook on civil resistance that contains advice on debilitating occupiers and various forms of subversion.

It is the wooded north where Russian troops, supply trucks, weapons and logistics make a particularly attractive target. There, Russian troops and supplies move along highways, avoiding unmarked and difficult-to-navigate countryside, often poorly defended and overgrown. This tactic is an open invitation to guerrilla attacks, as the history of guerrilla warfare shows. Many Ukrainians will remember their country's history during World War II, when nationalist and Soviet Ukrainian partisans occupied the forests, swamps, and mountains of western and northern Ukraine, and urban guerrillas harassed occupying German forces in the cities. According to Ukrainian historian Ivan Patrilyk, even after the Soviets overthrew Germany in 1944 as the ruler of Ukraine, nationalist parties continued their ten-year campaign that killed more than 30,000 Soviet officials and secret police. .

This history is important because western Ukrainians have been lionized by nationalist guerrillas and their struggle for independence. Similarly, Eastern Ukrainians worshiped anti-German parties thanks to the Soviet culture of World War II. Joining the guerrillas today is a time-honored act that allows participants to consciously step into a long tradition of resistance to apartheid. Because guerrillas take great risks, they must be completely dedicated to the cause they are fighting for. So being able to sacrifice in a long historical or even family tradition could preserve the motivation and courage that had so far proved so effective against the vastly unmotivated Russian army.

Melitopol Partisan Warfare

Of course, Russia will respond brutally. Russian history, including the Chechen war, knows that retaliation against guerrillas can be particularly horrific. Between 1945 and 1955, Soviet forces killed more than 150,000 suspected guerrillas and sympathizers in Ukraine, according to Petrylik. Hundreds of thousands of Western Ukrainians were deported to Siberia or Central Asia, and nearly 90,000 were imprisoned. But today the guerrillas will not be alone in the forest, they will act together with Ukraine.

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