The Warrior-Witches of Ukraine's Resistance. Underground intelligence network uses subterfuge...The Atlantic

[Amaryllis]

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/06/underground-intelligence-network-russia-ukraine/687578/

The Warrior-Witches of Ukraine’s Resistance

An underground intelligence network uses subterfuge and honey traps to direct drone strikes deep inside Russian-occupied territory.
By Ken Harbaugh

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Ukraine’s resistance is alive and more lethal than ever. But it has changed dramatically since its early days. A man I will call Dmytro (he requested anonymity for reasons of safety) has served with a resistance team inside occupied Kherson from the first days of the full-scale invasion. “We took insane risks then,” he told me. “Nobody thought the Russians would be here long.” Partisan cells sprang up organically—people who knew one another, sometimes ex-military, improvising as they went. Symbolic acts of resistance happened daily. Ukrainians flew their flag and blared patriotic songs in public. The image of a grandmother pressing sunflower seeds into a Russian paratrooper’s hand—“so that sunflowers grow here when you die”—traveled around the world.

As it became clear the Russians intended to stay, such open defiance faded. Today, expressing support for Ukraine in Russian-occupied areas is likely to earn a trip to “the basement,” a euphemism for Russian torture chambers. Dmytro described Russia’s repression as a kind of machine: “It takes time to get spinning, then it has its own momentum.” High-resolution surveillance cameras now blanket city centers, and interrogations are a feature of daily life. Resistance leaders from Mariupol estimate that nearly half of the adult population there has been polygraphed by the Russian security service.

Even peaceful acts can meet with extreme repression. In 2022 and 2023, occupation forces in Mariupol effectively banned the colors blue and yellow. Residents describe receiving aid packages, including school supplies, with yellow and blue markers ripped out of their boxes. Today, Russia’s camera net is sophisticated enough to track individuals block by block, masked or not. Petro Andriushchenko escaped from Mariupol and now coordinates a cell still operating there. “Pro-Ukrainian graffiti can get you killed,” he told me. “Even disguised, your movements can be traced backwards to find where you live.”

The kind of symbolic resistance once waged by the general public has now given way to intelligence work, carried out by serious operatives. Managed by handlers in unoccupied Ukraine, these agents help identify targets, verify coordinates, and pass them to the Ukrainian military. The location of Achmad’s barracks, although traced through online subterfuge, was almost certainly confirmed by an agent on the ground. The result is a movement that has grown both quieter and deadlier. It now feeds the “middle-strike” campaign—a sustained drone offensive against targets deep inside the occupied territories, including air defenses, logistics hubs, command posts, and personnel. A crucial link in that kill chain is information from loyal Ukrainians behind enemy lines.

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