The Ukrainian resistance is setting fire to Putin’s dreams of conquest

On D-Day, the anniversary of that we just celebrated, the Allies knew the location of Nazi defenses thanks to the French Resistance. Now, Ukrainian resistance groups are playing key roles in similar, albeit smaller, operations, allowing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to deter and, in some places, push back the Russian war machine. Their D-Day, however, is yet to come.

As detailed in my new report’Crossing Thresholds: Ukrainian Resistance to Russian Occupation’ In the Ukrainian underground, the patriotic partisan movement comprises many tens of thousands of Ukrainians, encompassing all manner of activities, from distributing yellow ribbons to assassinating Russian secret police. They do so despite overwhelming enemy surveillance and the terrible risks of being caught.

In all Russian-occupied towns and cities in Ukraine, torture chambers run by the FSB operate in plain sight, as a demonstrative form of intimidation. There is a legion of reports of sexualized torture (for example, electric shocks applied to the genitals), nail removal, rape and mutilation. This performative terror is used to force Ukrainians into submission. Life under Russian control is grim, with egregious crimes including large-scale child abduction, torture, extrajudicial executions and the use of locals as human shields.

Aside from a few lucky collaborators, the only people living normal lives are Russian citizens who have moved by the hundreds of thousands to what they call “new regions,” often with direct incentives and financial incentives from the Kremlin. These resettlement are part of a deliberate strategy of ethnic cleansing, as Russia seeks to dilute the Ukrainian identity of these areas.

This selective imposition of normality has developed into a system that resembles apartheid between Russian and Ukrainian citizens. It is strongly reinforced by the almost mandatory acquisition of Russian passports. Daily life and access to essential services, from medical prescriptions to pensions, depend on meeting the demands of occupants. Those who do not have a Russian passport have their properties confiscated and are unable to obtain even emergency services.

Despite oppressive demoralization interspersed with horror, large numbers of Ukrainians resist. According to the National Center of Resistance of Ukraine, using Russia’s own census and electoral data, at least 60 percent of the population Ukrainians in the occupied territories refused Russian passports; 80% refused to put Russian license plates on their cars. An interviewee from an area occupied since 2014, but unable to leave, explained: “I will not take a Russian passport […] If I do this, who will be here to greet our boys when they free us? Where will all the Ukrainians be? I will greet [our boys] as Ukrainian.”

In wars like Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty, the distinctions between soldiers, civilians and resistance fighters often become blurred, as a broad segment of the population becomes involved in the fight for national survival, such as Britain in Second World War. Nonviolent acts of resistance, from refusing a Russian passport to tying a blue and yellow ribbon around a tree, play a crucial role in maintaining morale and community bonds. An active resistance fighter from the Crimean ATESH movement told me: “Non-violent resistance is extremely important [….] People feel a sense of support, that like-minded people are living next door.”

The Ukrainian resistance is playing a varied and instrumental, though largely unknown, role in the war, from maintaining a sense of collective identity to transmitting information about enemy equipment and personnel. Partisans engage in sabotage to disrupt enemy logistics and command structures, undermining the operational capabilities of occupiers and exposing critical weaknesses such as the inadequacy of Russian air defenses. Resistance attacks in Crimea, in particular, have had substantial geopolitical weight, contrary to Putin’s propaganda.

Ukrainian partisan activities also debunk Russian propaganda claims that the Russian-speaking population would be welcoming in eastern Ukraine and pose challenging questions for the occupiers. The constant increases, directed by Moscow, in the number of Russian National Guards, FSB and security personnel sent to the occupied territories show the difficulty of policing a hostile local population.

The scale of Ukrainian resistance is such that Russia has been unable to assert full control over its “new regions”. It faces a well-trained and cunning insurrectionist campaign that will play an increasingly important role in weakening the sustainability of the Russian war effort. From Melitopol to Simferopol, the occupied regions are not lost causes, but active participants in Ukraine’s ongoing war of liberation.

Dr Jade McGlynn is a researcher in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London. She is the author of ‘Memory Makers: The Politics of the Past in Russia’ and ‘Russia’s War’.

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