Ukrainian resistance in Russian-occupied Ukraine

Not to be confused with 2022 protests in Russian-occupied Ukraine.

Ukrainian resistance during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Date 1 March 2022 – present (2022-03-01 – present) (2 years, 9 months, 1 week and 6 days) Location Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine Status Ongoing
Belligerents
Ukraine	Russia Donetsk People's Republic Luhansk People's Republic
Commanders and leaders
Decentralized	Vladimir Putin Sergei Shoigu Valery Gerasimov Denis Pushilin Leonid Pasechnik Collaborator officials
Units involved
Popular Resistance of Ukraine Berdiansk Partisan Army Yellow Ribbon Atesh SBU Special Operations Forces	Russian Armed Forces Rosgvardiya OMON FSB Russian Border Guards Police of Russia Ukrainian collaborators Donetsk People's Militia Luhansk People's Militia Defected policemen
Casualties and losses
Unknown	190+ soldiers and policemen killed (partisan claim) 6+ border guards killed 18+ officials killed 2 helicopters damaged

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia occupied vast portions of the territory of Ukraine, having already occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as well as the entire Autonomous Republic of Crimea since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2014. Partisan groups began to be organized in mid-2022. These groups have been involved in intelligence-gathering, sabotage, and assassinations. Much of their activity has taken place in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

2022

March

On 1 March, the mayor of Kreminna, Volodymyr Struk was abducted from his home. His wife claimed that unknown camouflaged men entered their property and kidnapped her husband. On 2 March, Struk was found shot dead with a gunshot wound in his chest. Anton Herashchenko, an advisor to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine claimed that Struk was killed by "unknown patriots", suggesting that locals are responsible for his abduction and assassination. Struk was known to be an important pro-Russia figure in the region with "money and support from the Russian Federation", who had already expressed support for Russian proxy-forces back in 2014. Before his death, Struk called on local authorities to communicate and collaborate with approaching Russian forces.

On 20 March, two unknown assailants shot and killed the assistant to Volodymyr Saldo, Pavel Slobodchikov, in his car outside Saldo's house in Kherson.

April

On 3 April, the Ukrainian government stated that two Russian soldiers were killed and 28 others hospitalized after Ukrainian civilians handed out poisoned cakes to Russian soldiers of the Russian 3rd Motor Rifle Division in Izium.

On 20 April, pro-Russian blogger Valery Kuleshov was shot and killed while in his car in Kherson.

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. Fedorov also claimed that the Russian army was struggling to deal with these partisans, as the majority of the population of Melitopol was against the Russian presence.

On 21 April, Ukrayinski Novini reported that partisans in occupied Kherson had left a banner with a message on a pole in the city, which said: "Russian occupier and everyone who supports their regime. We are close—we are already working in Kherson. Death awaits you all! Kherson is Ukraine!".

On 26 April, the Governor of Mykolaiv Oblast, Vitaliy Kim, said that there had been resistance against the Russian army in the Kherson Oblast for two months and that Ukrainian partisans had killed 80 Russian troops in the region.

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!".

On 28 April, Apostrophe reported that guerillas blew up the railway bridge in Akimovka.

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.

May

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".

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.

In late May, six Russian border guards at the Zernovo border checkpoint in northern Ukraine were reportedly killed on the week of 30 May–5 June when they were attacked by Ukrainian partisans. Two days later, a bomb exploded near the office of Yevhen Balytskyi, a pro-Russian official and de facto mayor of Melitopol.

June

On 18 June, an explosive device went off in the car of Yevgeny Sobolev, the head of the Kherson Region penal service. He survived the blast and was taken to a hospital according to TASS.

On 20 June, three Russian soldiers were at a waterfront cafe in Kherson when a shooter opened fire at them. Two of the soldiers were killed, while the surviving soldier was hospitalised, according to Ukrainian Southern Command.

On 24 June, in occupied Kherson, a Russian appointed official, Dmitry Savluchenko, was killed by a car bomb, reportedly placed by Ukrainian partisans.

July

On 7 July police officer Serhii Tomko who had defected to the Russian side was shot and killed in his vehicle in Nova Kakhovka.

On 11 July, Yevgeny Yunakov, the Russian-appointed administrator of Velykyi Burluk was killed by a car bomb according to TASS.

On 24 July, partisans in Melitopol attacked rail infrastructure during the night, causing moderate damage to a section of railway. Explosions were reportedly heard near the Melitopol Airfield and near the village of Kostyantynivka, according to the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov.

On 26 July, Euromaidan Press reported that the Satelit factory in Mariupol had been attacked by partisans and "has been burning for 10 days".

On 27 July, in occupied Kherson an improvised explosive blew up a car with two defecting police officers inside of it, both were severely injured and one later died from his wounds.

On 28 July, The Daily Telegraph reported that posters with the message "Can't leave? HIMARS will help you" had begun appearing in Kherson.

On 29 July, partisans in Luhansk Oblast burned a distribution box controlling the railway traffic lights, junctions and crossings near Svatove during the night, according to the head of the Luhansk Regional Military-Civil Administration, Serhiy Haidai. Also on 29 July, Petro Andriushchenko, the Advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol, reported that partisans had set grain fields near the city on fire so that Russian forces would not be able to steal and export the grain.

August

On 6 August, Ukrainian media reported that the deputy head of the Russian administration in Nova Kakhovka, Vitaly Guru, was shot dead in his home; this was, however, refuted.

On 15 August, mayor of Melitopol reported that guerillas blew up the railway bridge which was used by Russians near the city.

On 20 August, pro-Ukrainian partisans conducted an unsuccessful attack against Konstantin Ivashchenko, the Russian-installed mayor of Mariupol, using an improvised explosive device.

On 23 August, Ihor Telehin, the deputy head of the internal policy department in Kherson Oblast was injured in a targeted explosion.

On 24 August, the head of the Russian-appointed administration of Mykhailivka in Zaporizhzhia oblast Ivan Sushko was wounded in a car bombing, he was taken to a hospital and died there from his wounds.

On 26 August, Russian-appointed official Oleksandr Koliesnikov, the deputy chief of the Berdiansk traffic police was injured in an explosion. He was taken to hospital with shrapnel wounds, where he died hours later.

On 28 August, People's Deputy of Ukraine Oleksii Kovalov, who according to Ukrainian authorities at the beginning of July had assumed the position of deputy head of the Russian-appointed government of Kherson Oblast, was shot dead in his own home.

On 30 August, partisans reportedly launched attacks on pro-Russian security forces in Kherson city.

September

On 6 September, Russian-installed official Artem Bardin was heavily wounded when his car was blown up in Berdyansk. Russian officials reported that he had lost both of his legs and doctors were "fighting for his life" in the hospital where he was kept. Bardin later died in the hospital.

On 10 September, Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai claimed that Ukrainian partisans had managed to capture parts of Kreminna during the 2022 Ukrainian Kharkiv Oblast counteroffensive.

On 16 September, the Deputy Head of Berdiansk CAA for Housing and Communal Services Oleg Boyko and his wife, Lyudmila Boyko—who was head of the city's election commission for the referendum to join Russia—were killed near their garage in Berdiansk in an apparent assassination.

On 16 September, Serhiy Horenko, the Prosecutor General of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic and his deputy Kateryna Stehlenko were killed in a bomb attack that targeted their office in Luhansk, Eastern Ukraine.

October–November

On 31 October, Pavlo Ischuk, the Russian-installed First Deputy Mayor of Berdiansk for Foreign Policy and Mass Communications, was seriously injured by a bombing near his house in Berdiansk.

On 4 November, Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin said that Alexander Nikulin, a judge of the Supreme Court of the DPR, was shot and seriously injured in Vuhlehirsk.

On 15 November, Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov stated that Dmitry Trukhin, a former member of the city council and director of 'communal property' suffered serious injuries after a bombing attack on his residence in Melitopol.

December

On 11 December, guerillas set fire to barracks, which were occupied by Russian soldiers in the Crimean village of Sovietske.

On 12 December, Vitaly Bulyuk, First Deputy Head of the Kherson MCA for Economics, Financial and Budgetary Policy, Agriculture, Revenue and Fees, was injured in a car bombing in Skadovsk. His driver was killed.

On 22 December, it was reported that Andrei Shtepa, head of the Russian occupation in the Kakhovka district of Kherson, was assassinated in a car bombing near a Soviet monument in Kakhovka. His driver was also killed.

2023

January–February

On 6 January, partisans blew up a railway line near Shchastya, Luhansk Oblast, which was mainly used to transport military equipment and stolen Ukrainian grain.

On 13 January, a car bombing attempting to kill the collaborator in charge of the Russian occupation of Berdiansk, Alexei Kichigin, took place, though he survived. On 16 January following a series of explosions, Ukrainian authorities announced that Kichigin had been killed in the strikes.

On 24 January, local Russian collaborator Valentyna Mamai was targeted in a car bombing in the center of Berdiansk, and later hospitalized.

On 3 February, local Russian collaborator police officer in Enerhodar, and local head of Russian troops, Yevgeny Kuzmin was killed with an improvised explosive device (IED) while he was in his car.

March

On 14 March, local Russian collaborator Ivan Tkach was killed in a car bombing in the center of Melitopol.

On 19 March, Russian collaborator Serhii Moskalenko was killed in a car bombing in Skadovsk by Atesh partisans. Moskalenko had set up torture chambers in Kherson Oblast during the Russian occupation and had been appointed a "prison warden" by the occupation authorities.

On 19 March, there was an attempt to blow up a gas pipeline in the city of Simferopol in Russian-occupied Crimea. The facility suffered minor damage.

On 27 March, the car of Mikhail Moskvin, the Russian-appointed chief of police, was blown up in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast. Moskvin survived.

April–May

On 27 April, Russian collaborator Oleksandr Mishchenko was killed in a bombing in Melitopol. Mishchenko was previously the Chief of Police of Pryazovske Raion and had served as Deputy Chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Melitopol for personnel since the Russian invasion.

On 15 May, Igor Kornet, the Minister of the Interior of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, was seriously wounded by an explosion in the city center of Luhansk. It was reported that Kornet was inside of a barber shop at the time of the blast, which injured four more people.

On 18 May, partisans blew up a railway line near Bakhchisaray, Crimea, causing the derailment of at least five freight wagons.

June

On 2 June, a car with four local collaborators was blown up in Russian-occupied Mykhailivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Ivan Fedorov, the elected mayor of Melitopol, reported that one of the victims was Serhii Dydovodiuk, a local liquor distributor, who was known for having pro-Russian stances and serving fellow pro-Russian and Russian individuals at his café.

On 14 June, Ukrainian guerillas blew up a key railway line near Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Ukrainian officials claimed that in addition to 50 meters of railway track, five freight carts got destroyed by the detonation.

On 19 June, the car of Vladimir Epifanov, the assistant of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, was blown up in Simferopol, Crimea. According to initial reports, Epifanov and his bodyguards survived the blast, but sustained severe injuries.

On 21 June, Atesh partisans blew up a railway line between Feodosia and Vladyslavivka in Crimea, causing the disruption of railway traffic for multiple hours.

On 24 June, two 16-year-old partisans were fatally shot by a Russian sniper in Berdiansk after killing a Russian soldier and a collaborating police officer.

July

On 4 July, a drone strike in the Moscow region allegedly carried out by Ukraine caused disruption in flights at Vnukovo International Airport. The Russian defense ministry reported that all five drones involved in the attack were successfully intercepted without causing any harm or damage.

On 19 July, Kyrylo Budanov, the Ukrainian head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, reported that Ukrainian partisans played a key role in the attack on a Russian ammunition depot near the Crimean town of Staryi Krym, which caused chain of strong explosions and the subsequent evacuation of nearby towns and villages.

On 29 July, two Russian officers were killed and 15 others hospitalized as the result of a mass poisoning carried out by Ukrainian partisans in the Russian-occupied port city of Mariupol in the Donetsk Region of Eastern Ukraine. Petro Andriushchenko, the advisor to the elected mayor of the city, claimed that Russian authorities assume that cyanide and pesticides were added to food, which was handed out at an event location to celebrate the Day of the Russian Navy.

August

On 13 August, Ukrainian guerillas set fire to a Russian military base near the destroyed Azovstal plant in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast. Local Ukrainian authorities reported losses among Russian troops and equipment, but didn't publish any further details. It was later reported that at least 10 Russian servicemen sustained injuries from the fire.

On 30 August, Atesh partisans blew up the election hub of the United Russia party in Nova Kakhovka, a town located the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson Oblast. The guerillas claimed the blast killed three Russian soldiers and burned “all the documentation that the occupiers brought for the elections scheduled for 8 to 10 September”.

On 31 August, the local partisan group ′Y′ claimed responsibility for another arson attack on a Russian base on the outskirts of Mariupol and reportedly damaged at least four Russian military vehicles.

September–October

On 7 September, a car carrying two FSB officers was blown up in Oleshky in Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast. The car bomb killed one FSB officer instantly and injured the other one severely, as well as three Russian soldiers escorting the car.

On 1 October, Atesh partisans released a video of freshly dug trenches and new dragon teeth fortifications near Feodosia in Russian-occupied Crimea. They also stated that they are forming groups, which travel around the peninsula and report every building effort of military fortifications to the Ukrainian intelligence, to make sure "a breakthrough of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is successful".

On 7 October, a car bomb killed Vladimir Malov, a Russian-installed official in the occupied Ukrainian city of Nova Kakhovka.

On 23 October, Russian media sources reported the death of one Russian serviceman as the result of a detonation of an improvised explosive device in the occupied port city of Berdiansk. Later that day, a spokesperson of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine stated "a local resistance group" was behind the plot that targeted a car carrying four representatives of the Russian FSB and called the attack "an act of revenge".

On 27 October, former lawmaker and separatist official Oleg Tsaryov was shot on the premises of his home in Yalta, Autonomous Republic of Crimea. His condition was reported to be "critical" when he was rushed into hospital, but according to Russian official sources, he survived the attempt on his life. On 31 October, the FSB arrested a 46-year-old local resident, who reportedly confessed to the charges of attempting to kill Tsaryov.

November

On 8 November, Mikhail Filiponenko, a Russian-installed official and former separatist leader was assassinated in Luhansk. Ukraine's military intelligence directorate claims it carried out a "a special operation" in collaboration with local resistance fighters to liquidate Filiponenko. He reportedly survived a previous assassination attempt in February 2022, only three days before the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Before 2010, Filiponenko was a local lawmaker for the pro-Russian Party of Regions.

On 10 November, Ukrainian partisans blew up a Russian police car in Mariupol, Eastern Ukraine. No human casualties were reported.

On 11 November, Ukrainian guerillas blew up the headquarters of the Russian military in Melitopol, killing at least three Russian servicemen. The attack took place during a meeting of officers from the FSB and the Russian National Guard.

On 15 November, members of the Yellow Ribbon resistance group placed the Ukrainian flag on the peak of the Boyka Hora, a mountain near Yalta, Crimea. There were similar reports in late August of unknown people hoisting the Ukrainian flag on top of the Shaan-Kaya mountain near Alupka, which is located 15 kilometers southwest from Yalta.

On 21 November, Lt-Col Oleg Shumilov and Lt-Col Vladimir Pakholenko were seriously injured when their car exploded in the city of Luhansk. Shumilov was deputy interior minister and Pakholenko a criminal investigator.

December

On 5 December, 24 Russian servicemen were reportedly killed and 11 more hospitalized after members of a local partisan group handed out poisoned groceries and alcoholic beverages in Simferopol, Crimea.

On 6 December, a car belonging to a Russian-installed deputy named Oleh Popov was blown up in the city center of Luhansk. RIA Novosti, a Russian news outlet, aired reports of an explosion near the Avanhard Stadium, but didn't specify whether anyone was injured in the explosion.

On 15 December, guerillas bombed a train, which was carrying ammunition and supplies in the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast. A day later, local resistance fighters wounded a Russian officer in a car bombing in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast.

On 17 December, members of the Atesh movement published the coordinates of alleged Russian anti-aircraft installations in an online post near Sevastopol, Crimea. This is part of a supposed larger intelligence gathering operation by the group, as reports of an infiltration at a Russian military base in Feodosia surfaced five days earlier.

On 25 December, Atesh resistance fighters posted footage of an infiltration into a Russian command post near the town of Novoozerne in northwestern Crimea.

2024

January

On 13 January, in Crimea, 46 Russian servicemen in Simferopol and Bakhchysarai were reportedly killed with poisoned vodka which was handed out by two young female partisans. Police were sent to apprehend them in a private house in Yalta and engaged in a shoot-out with the partisans, in which 3 police officers were killed and 2 were wounded before the partisans fled the scene in a car.

On 15 January, a car carrying four Russian servicemen was blown up in Russian-occupied Melitopol, Southern Ukraine. According to initial reports, all four soldiers suffered injuries.

On 22 January, the 105th anniversary of the Ukrainian Unification Act, activists of the Yellow Ribbon movement positioned a big Ukrainian flag on top of the Pakhkal-Kaya mountain near Alushta, Crimea.

See also

• 2022–2023 Belarusian and Russian partisan movement
• 2022 protests in Russian-occupied Ukraine
• Collaboration with Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
• Occupied territories of Ukraine

Further reading

• Gettleman, J. (25 December 2022), "How Citizen Spies Foiled Putin's Grand Plan for One Ukrainian City", The New York Times, archived from the original on 25 February 2023, retrieved 25 December 2022