sabotage, exchange of information… Melitopol, capital of the resistance in the territories occupied by Russia

“The liberation of Melitopol is the key to liberating all of southern Ukraine.” On Victory Square, the Ukrainian flag has been removed, but the Ukrainian resistance still breathes in the streets of the city occupied since the beginning of March. The occupation authorities made Melitopol their unofficial regional capital, failing to conquer Zaporijjia, 130 kilometers to the north. The city would now have 55,000 inhabitants, against 155,000 before the war.

At the bend of the streets, it is still possible to cross the national colors, on posters pasted in a hurry. At the call of the “Yellow Ribbon” movement, active in several occupied cities, public space is sometimes reinvested. The letter “Ї”, specific to Ukrainian Cyrillic and absent from Russian, serves as a rallying sign. “Our militants stick up patriotic posters, share information about the enemy, deface and burn Russian propaganda material”explains to franceinfo Alex Svoboda *, one of the coordinators of the movement.

“Yellow Ribbon” is presented as a “movement of political and civil resistance”. Due to the Russian occupation, “Ukrainians can lose their property, their home, their freedomexplains Alex, but also their faith, their life and their freedom of expression. That’s why we fight.” Asked about possible arrests of activists, he said nothing about Melitopol. In Kherson, on the other hand, some of its activists were arrested after demonstrations. “The Russians let them go after questioning them, for lack of evidence of their involvement.”

The movement organized a rally in Gorky Park in Melitopol on May 29. Dozens of participants waved the Ukrainian flag there. Since, “Yellow Ribbon” also denounced the granting of Russian passports to the inhabitants and the publication of Russian newspapers and media. During the so-called annexation “referendum”, the organization urged people to leave the door closed to election investigators and to ignore calls from Russian numbers.

Residents are also invited to report any “collaborators” of the Russian forces, using a dedicated mailbox. Names are sometimes thrown in the food on social networks, found franceinfo, with mobile number, home address and profession of the “traitors” : “We commend the education workers (…), but not S…. B…. (b.. July 19..), who criticizes students chatting or telephoning in Ukrainian”points out one of these messages, while the occupation authorities have imposed Russian at school.

Russian forces are constantly seeking information from the population, promising anonymity to their informers. “The traitors must know that their crimes are public knowledge. And Ukrainians must know that punishment is inevitable!” justifies the interlocutor of franceinfo. The movement, moreover, claims to have collected personal information from the occupation leaders, including their personal addresses.

“The occupiers know that every Ukrainian can be a partisan or an activist. As a result, they really fear for their safety.”

“Yellow Ribbon” disobedience movement

at franceinfo

In Melitopol, the “Yellow Ribbon” movement claims a hard core of 300 to 500 activists, involved in organization and coordination. Their actions are aimed at “psychological destabilization”explains Adrien Nonjon, specialist in Ukraine at the National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Civilizations (Inalco).

In response, security forces are now controlling civilian cell phones, local occupation official Vladimir Rogov said. Subscriber residents who will be surprised to read “propaganda content [ukrainienne]“, for example on Telegram, will first receive a warning, then fines, under the current martial law. Ukraine also claims that Russian forces are searching buildings in Melitopol and their basements, looking for hiding places and stockpiles of weapons.

The resistance also relies on a clandestine network, which carries out armed actions. “The active resistance fighters, those who are called partisans, are hundreds in the city”assures the mayor in exile, Ivan Fedorov, during a video conversation with franceinfo. “It is obviously difficult to give a more precise number”he admits, having blurred the elements that could betray his position.

The term “partisan”, in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, “designates militants perpetuating direct actions (assassinations, convoy attacks…)”, explains Adrien Nonjon. It can refer to “civilian citizens, or members who have worked for a long time with the special forces”says Ivan Fedorov.

These have two missions, details the mayor. “First, they must give all possible information about Russian forces, collaborators and occupiers, and their whereabouts.” This makes it possible to better understand the supply lines and the arms depots, and to help the general staff to define its targets. At the end of April, the “South” command had thus thanked the resistance fighters of Melitopol, after a successful strike on a railway bridge.

“People can upload, on Telegram for example, images and geolocation data.”

Adrien Nonjon, specialist in Ukraine, researcher at Inalco

at franceinfo

“We had relays in each village”explains the mayor of a locality in the Kherson region, interviewed by France 24. “The boys would climb up buildings with binoculars, watch the movements of Russian troops and report them to the army, who then bombarded”adds Svetlana, a resident who also reported positions.

Wherever possible, supporters are also on a mission to take action themselves to cut supply chains. “That’s why very often you can see destruction of railways, bridges”comments Ivan Fedorov. “They destroyed three or four of them.”

“Our supporters must complicate the lives of the occupiers and collaborators as much as possible. Of course, this is a very dangerous mission in these occupied territories.”

Ivan Fedorov, exiled mayor of Melitopol

at franceinfo

Last week, a bomb exploded in front of the headquarters of the ZaMedia group, which has become a relay for Russian propaganda, injuring six, including a child, according to a report by the occupation authorities. Ivan Fedorov assures that the partisans are not involved in this affair. The mayor in exile, in this case, prefers to invoke settling of accounts between the occupation administration and the FSB. But in the past, supporters have “sure” committed attacks with explosives, he said.

In early September, for example, the occupation authorities reported an attack on the headquarters of a pro-Russian movement. A car parked in the parking lot of a police station was also trapped, as well as the vehicles of the municipal education official and a Ukrainian who joined Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party. The bomb had been placed under the driver’s seat, testifies a supporter met this summer by the New York Times (in English). It exploded when the engine started, but the man survived his injuries.

“During the so-called referendum [d’annexion]many supporters also went to the homes of collaborators who wanted to support the fake ballotsays Ivan Fedorov, and they destroyed United Russia party offices in Melitopol. All this is also part of the missions of the resistance.”

“If the Russians thought everyone was going to welcome them with open arms, they are sorely mistaken.”

Ivan Fedorov, exiled mayor of Melitopol

at franceinfo

These actions put the Russian troops on edge. “They are kidnapping many inhabitants, deporting others, and they are becoming more and more aggressive in the occupied territories”observes the mayor. “Their main objective, of course, is to flush out supporters, but they fail to do so.”

Partisan networks have a recognized existence in the organization chart of armies. “There is a great cooperation between all these elements, even if we often have difficulties with the network and the internet”, continues Ivan Fedorov. At the end of January, even before the start of the war, the Ukrainian Parliament had adopted a law on national resistance, providing in particular for the possibility for the army to equip and train civilians. “They therefore constitute the second front line, with techniques of urban guerrilla warfare and the handling of weapons”comments Adrien Nonjon.

The National Resistance Center (CNR), which depends on the special forces of the army, encourages disobedience in the populations concerned, including in an armed manner. He also oversees the publication of an underground newspaper, Gazeta Sportiv (“Resistance Diary”) and several guides, including a manual for the perfect resistance fighter or advice (links in Ukrainian) for setting fire to a police station with a Molotov cocktail. The CNR, on occasion, even gives advice on how to neutralize an abandoned tank.

The publication of these tutorials and this desire to train civilians is not a new phenomenon in Ukraine. “Society has been under continuous tension since 2014, with brutalization through war and revolution”, summarizes Adrien Nonjon. Since the beginning of the conflict in the Donbass, “a number of organizations, stemming from Ukrainian nationalist movements”, trained civilians in the use of weapons in training camps. “PDFs were also published on social networks (VKontakte, Facebook…), in order to learn how to disassemble a weapon or to create a Molotov cocktail.”

For several months, American experts from the Institute for the Study of War have displayed this parallel activity on their interactive map of Ukraine. (in English). It remains to assess the real importance of partisan actions in the operational balance of power. If their role is “important to guide the Ukrainian Armed Forces”It is “still too early” to judge their results, underlines Adrien Nonjon. However, they are a sign that in Ukraine, “It’s an entire people who are fighting”.