Ukrainian sabotage groups operating behind Russian lines

Since 2022, agents of the underground resistance movement Atesh have relentlessly carried out brutal sabotage against the Russian army. Djohar, leading a group of agents, takes us behind the scenes.

Their eyes are everywhere: near Russian military facilities, brigade positions, and airfields.

And in their hands — explosives and a message to Russia’s army: Atesh is following you like a shadow; for those who have unlawfully come to Ukrainian land, retribution awaits.

The destruction of a transformer cabinet on a railway near Kemerovo, Russia. Source: Telegram @atesh_ua.

This week, agents of the partisan movement Atesh carried out their latest sabotage operation, this time targeting a railway used to deliver supplies to Russian forces in the occupied Luhansk region.

The partisan movement has become an integral part of the Ukrainian military's successes, acting not only as its eyes but also its hands deep inside enemy territory.

Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, the indigenous people of Crimea, are proving they’re ready to resist authoritarianism — even while under occupation and despite the threat of death.

So even if a proposed meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy results in Ukraine making territorial concessions, the fight for the freedom of Ukrainians will not end anytime soon.

“Our person in one of the villages in the Kherson region spotted a rotation of Russian troops. This was back at the beginning of the full-scale war. He managed to burn down an electronic reconnaissance complex along with two drunk Russian soldiers,” one of the partisans said, identifying himself only as Djohar.

Djohar knows what occupation means better than anyone.

He was forced to leave his home in the Kherson region after Russian forces took control in 2022. He now launches operations from territory controlled by Ukraine, organizing saboteurs and intelligence collectors who can make trouble for the enemy.

Djohar’s friends and family are mostly kept in the dark about what they do: to some, these partisans appear to work as freelancers, to others, they have a cover story as call center workers.

No one outside the movement can know what members really do — the risk of death or torture lurks around their every activity. That’s because behind the facade of his cover story, Djohar coordinates agent operations.

“It’s dangerous work. Russians can track not only the agents but also the coordinators — whether they’re in Ukrainian-controlled areas, in the occupied territories, or even in Russia. Russian special services have even assassinated military personnel or intelligence officers in Kyiv-controlled territory — shooting them, blowing up cars, and so on,” Djohar told The Counteroffensive.

Atesh (meaning ‘fire’ in Crimean Tatar) emerged in September 2022 in the occupied territories, right after Russia announced mobilization in response to Ukraine's breakthrough in the Kharkiv region, where it had liberated thousands of square kilometers in less than a month.

Under the barrels of Russian guns, Ukrainians were forced to take Russian passports. Once they were ‘officially’ Russian citizens, they were expected to fulfill their civic duties — in other words, to defend Russia from supposed Ukrainian ‘neo-Nazism.’ As of 2023, between 55,000 and 60,000 Ukrainians from occupied territories had been mobilized into the Russian army.

An Atesh agent holds up a poster right after destroying railway equipment near part of the Donetsk region occupied by Russia. Source: Telegram @atesh_ua.

Atesh, which began as a small insurgent group, has grown into a full-fledged network with agents scattered everywhere.

Russia’s mobilization helped them infiltrate the Russian military, as agents enlisted voluntarily or were conscripted.

According to Djohar, the movement now has around 2,500 partisans operating from Ukraine to Russia’s Far East.

Today, in the streets of both Russian and Ukrainian cities, you can find printed posters secretly placed on poles, subway maps, or near government buildings with QR codes that direct people to Atesh coordinators.

There are three main coordination areas: Crimea, the occupied parts of mainland Ukraine, and Russia.

Those in Crimea might end up under Djohar’s supervision — he’s responsible for coordination there.

He guides them from task to task, gradually escalating each assignment. At first, it might be spraying graffiti or leaving a leaflet in a residential area. After that, the agent might be asked to photograph a Russian patrol or military base. Some candidates stop at this stage.

But others go further and embark on a campaign of destruction meant to strike fear into Russian occupiers. A vehicle sporting anti-Ukrainian symbols like the ‘Z’ sign might be set ablaze, for instance, or have its tires slashed, or its brake lines cut.

A partisan cutting the valve stems off the car tires of a Russia supporter. Video by Telegram @atesh_ua.

The most daring will be asked to undertake the most dangerous missions.

“We constantly raise the bar while also testing the person… We burn down telecommunications stations... From time to time, we blow up Russians,” Djohar said.

You might think that the people most suited for these sorts of operations are the James Bond-types: suave and sophisticated spies. But in fact, James Bond-types might stand out in all the wrong ways, drawing attention to critical tasks.

All that’s required to be trained to carry out a special operation is willingness. Of course, it’s easier for people with special skills — for example, those who understand chemistry or know how to “work with metals.”

Most sabotage missions require work with explosives and explosive devices. Without them, it’s difficult to set fire to equipment along key railway lines or vehicles used by Russian soldiers in the occupied territories.

But trained coordinators can explain to anyone — or even demonstrate in a video — how to make an explosive.

Djohar takes pride in many operations he helped bring to fruition.

When his agents make the leap from feeling fear and showing inexperience to carrying out large-scale missions, he says he feels energized. Planning such operations can take months and come with countless challenges. But when he hears the explosion or sees the fire, Djohar exhales.

“Most special operations become routine. You just realize that you need to do more and more — try to make them more complex so they have a greater impact on the battlefield and the overall strategic situation,” he said.

Thanks to the most motivated agents, Ukraine was able to strike Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. In September 2023, an Atesh spy passed along information about the time and location of a scheduled command meeting. As a result, the Ukrainian army was able to strike the headquarters with long-range missiles. This operation would later go down in history as the ‘Crab Trap.’

The Russian army tried to conceal its losses, claiming that only one soldier had gone missing. But Atesh agents reported seeing at least 20 ambulances near the headquarters, along with body bags being carried out. The head of Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR), Kyrylo Budanov, later stated that Russian generals were among the dead.

Destroyed headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Photo: atesh.media.

That same month, Atesh agents helped facilitate a strike on the large landing ship Minsk, which the Russians planned to use for an amphibious assault on Odesa, as well as on the submarine Rostov-on-Don in Sevastopol Bay. These vessels were used to transport equipment and ammunition from Russia after Kyiv damaged the Crimean Bridge.

The result of a successful operation is not only the destruction or death, but also to change the enemy’s behavior.

In this case, Russian forces were left in such a panic that soon after, ships from the Black Sea Fleet were moved further away from Crimea. To this day, Moscow keeps its combat-ready ships stationed far away, and mostly avoids bringing them into vulnerable parts of the Black Sea.

“It was a very fast-paced operation. We actively involved local residents who spent several days walking around the bay, photographing the locations of these vessels. And we coordinated really well with the Ukrainian defense forces at that time,” recalled Djohar.

The fleet wasn’t the only target, however. With help from Atesh, the Ukrainian army was able to launch numerous strikes on airfields in Crimea — in Saky, Dzhankoi, Sevastopol, and other locations where aircraft were based. Ukrainian drones and missiles took out military personnel, air defense systems, and other equipment thanks to partisans in Crimea.

“We had operations where someone was selling drugs to the Russians. When they got high, our agent took their pistol and eliminated two [soldiers],” Djohar said.

Atesh is also helping the Ukrainian army right now with intelligence for planning strikes inside Russia. According to Djohar, Ukrainian forces have used their intel to hit targets in Russia’s Kursk and Bryansk regions, and even near Moscow. Targets include military factories, oil depots, refineries, and more.

The Counteroffensive reached out to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine to confirm the claims, but has not received an immediate answer at the time of publication.

Atesh’s main focus now is disrupting Russian logistics, Djohar said. This mostly involves damaging railway lines, the arteries keeping the Russian military alive with steady supply deliveries.

Cutting off the railways means Russian forces are left without critical resources, significantly weakening them from within.

Such partisan successes don’t go unnoticed by Russian intelligence services, which constantly try to infiltrate the movement and track down its agents. Unsurprisingly, the movement is officially labeled a ‘terrorist’ group in Russia.

That’s why Atesh reimburses its agents for software and phones that protect against surveillance. Other precautions are taken as well, and agents usually don’t know each other, so they can’t divulge information that would put others at risk. Djohar and other coordinators decide whether or not to connect agents, which at times is necessary for things like transferring explosives or carrying out a joint operation.

Each agent goes through thorough vetting — from verifying the information they provide, to checking the phone numbers they used to send photos or videos, and conducting a background check.

“Sometimes we get weird cases. At one point, we were contacted by three different representatives of various Russian intelligence agencies simultaneously,” Djohar said.

Riot police stand guard near the headquarters of the Federal Security Service, Russia's main security agency. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP) (Photo by ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images).

Suspicious people have also occasionally loitered near Djohar’s home, although he can’t be sure if they were FSB agents. In any case, Djohar knows full well that the FSB can reach him even in Ukraine.

It is especially dangerous for agents and coordinators operating inside Russia right under the noses of Russian intelligence. From Kursk to far-off Siberia, Russians are joining Atesh — some for money, and some for a way to leave Russia and strike the Kremlin before they go. Others were conscripted into the Russian army against their will and decided to leak valuable information.

Djohar is reluctant to talk about whether the FSB has ever managed to thwart an operation or eliminate Atesh agents. But in the past three years, he says, they’ve learned how to detect members of the Russian intelligence services more quickly.

“We play a game with them. We know someone is FSB, and we try to analyze the information they send — why this area, what’s the motivation? We give them fake targets, making them think a particular object is important to us, when it’s not. We keep such FSB agents close,” Djohar explained.

As talk grows of Putin and Zelenskyy soon meeting to discuss a possible ceasefire — which Trump has mused might win him a ticket to heaven — Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars still under occupation face the prospect of being stuck in hell.

But even in hell, there is room for resistance.

“People aren’t going anywhere. We will definitely continue, and we will definitely not stop our fight, even if the war is frozen,” said Djohar.

NEWS OF THE DAY:

By: Yelyzaveta Kolos

Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.

RUSSIA DEPLOYS LTE-ENABLED DRONE IN UKRAINE WAR: Kyiv says they have unveiled a new Russian drone with LTE technology, now used across several front lines. It can serve for reconnaissance, strikes, or as a decoy to overload Ukraine’s air defences, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

The UAV features a camera, two LTE modems for real-time video, and jam-resistant navigation. Its delta-wing design resembles the Shahed-131 but is smaller and can be manually guided in strike mode using FPV.

Almost half of its parts come from China, including communication modules and a DLE engine. Ukrainian intelligence says it closely resembles the Italmas loitering munition from Russia’s Zala Group, showing Moscow’s reliance on foreign components.

UK RULES OUT SENDING TROOPS TO UKRAINE’S FRONT LINE: UK Defence Chief Tony Radakin is set to tell US officials that Britain is ready to send troops to support Ukraine’s airspace and ports, but not to the line of contact with Russia. According to The Guardian, the UK will focus on logistics and training rather than combat roles, Ukrainska Pravda reports.

Radakin’s message comes ahead of a Pentagon meeting with military chiefs from 30 nations to finalize commitments for Ukraine’s security. While earlier plans suggested up to 30,000 troops could be deployed to guard Ukrainian facilities, these have been scaled back after European resistance.

The UK insists its contribution will be limited to strengthening Ukraine’s defenses without risking direct clashes with Russia. The talks are viewed as a crucial step toward potential peace guarantees, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressing that any agreement depends on firm U.S. backing.

US Sells Weapons to Europe for Ukraine With 10% Mark-Up: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said weapons sold to European countries for Ukraine carry a 10 percent mark-up to help cover military assistance costs, Suspilne reported.

He added that once the war ends, these investments are expected to benefit American taxpayers, emphasizing that a stable Ukraine is key for economic returns.

DOG OF WAR:

Today’s Dog of War is Barbosa, the dog of Liza’s uncle. Barbosa (male, like in the “Pirates of the Caribbean”) loves spending time with Liza’s family when they come to the village for the weekend, because they play all together and feed him.

What a beautiful life, right?

Stay safe out there.

Best,
Mariana