Since the beginning of the war, Ukrainian partisans have been taking action against the Russian occupiers and collaborators. Now, according to reports, several residents in the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic are being publicly hanged for alleged partisan activities.
Russian forces have reportedly publicly hanged residents in the occupied Luhansk region on charges of partisan activity. Both Ukrainian blogger Serhii Sternenko and pro-Russian residents of Luhansk published pictures on Sunday showing five hanged people. They are said to be from the region and have been accused of partisanship by Russian forces. Signs dangled from the necks of the murdered victims read, among other things, “Traitor to the people of Luhansk.”
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suspects that the Russian armed forces want to deter further partisans in the Russian-occupied areas with these killings. After all, the actions of the Ukrainian partisans have been a threat to the occupiers and their allied collaborators for months.
As the institute wrote in early November, the partisan activities are forcing the Russian armed forces to withdraw resources from the front in order to secure the rear areas – which apparently repeatedly poses challenges for the Kremlin troops. “Russia’s increasing manpower shortages are likely to affect the ability of Russian forces to effectively secure Russian rear areas against partisan attacks while repelling Ukrainian counterattacks,” the report said. “The Kremlin has still not effectively combated Ukraine’s organized partisan movement and probably does not have the capabilities to do so.”
Russian occupation forces failed to eliminate the partisan movement in Ukraine by November 2022 and are unlikely to be able to do so at all. According to the ISW, less than a week after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Ukrainian partisans began targeting pro-Russian collaborators and Russian personnel. They carried out dozens of attacks in the areas occupied by Russia. As of November 1 alone, they are said to have murdered at least eleven Russian occupation officials and prominent collaborators.
According to the ISW, the Russian armed forces have not effectively concealed the identities of the pro-Kremlin collaborators and failed to provide security to the Russian occupiers. They also failed to protect vulnerable sections of critical Russian communications lines on the ground, such as rail links and bridges, particularly in rural areas. Over the past few months, Ukrainian partisans have repeatedly collected information about the targets of the Russian military and the occupation authorities and passed it on to other partisans and the Ukrainian army.
