How a small group of people from Ukraine contributed to Russia’s worst loss

By Jonathan Landay and Tom Balmforth; Edited by News Gate Team

Reuters, February 9, KHERSON, Ukraine – Last October, Ukrainian intelligence sought evidence that FSB officials in charge of the occupation of Kherson were lodging at a tiny hotel on a side street in the southern port city.

The mission was given to Dollar, a code name for a civilian who, according to the agent, had been covertly sharing enemy operations in Kherson and the surrounding area as well as targeting coordinates.

After Kherson was taken over in the beginning of November, Reuters conducted in-depth interviews with Dollar and two other members of the underground partisan network there.

Their individual testimonies offer a unique glimpse into how information and sabotage operations—which are currently taking place elsewhere in Ukraine—were planned wit

With his wife, a fellow operator who works for the network and goes by the code name Kosatka, Ukrainian for killer whale, Dollar claimed they started driving by the Hotel Ninel, which is Lenin’s name spelled backwards. Dollar declined to provide his name for security reasons.

The couple believed FSB agents were residing inside the hotel due to the armed security personnel they frequently observed outside; Dollar claimed to have texted his views to his handler at the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

Requests for comment on Dollar’s account or other partisan activities were not met with any response from the SBU of Ukraine or the FSB of Russia. Requests for comment from the defense ministry also went unanswered.

h Ukrainian intelligence services behind enemy lines.

The withdrawal of Russia from Kherson, one of the biggest setbacks for the Kremlin in a war that will mark its first anniversary on February 24, was hastened by such operations by an underground of intelligence operatives, ex-soldiers, and amateurs, according to two U.S. officials, although Reuters was unable to confirm the specific events they described.

With his wife, a fellow operator who works for the network and goes by the code name Kosatka, Ukrainian for killer whale, Dollar claimed they started driving by the Hotel Ninel, which is Lenin’s name spelled backwards. Dollar declined to provide his name for security reasons.

The couple believed FSB agents were residing inside the hotel due to the armed security personnel they frequently observed outside; Dollar claimed to have texted his views to his handler at the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

Requests for comment on Dollar’s account or other partisan activities were not met with any response from the SBU of Ukraine or the FSB of Russia. Requests for comment from the defense ministry also went unanswered.

Serhii Khlan, a local politician, said on Facebook that two FSB officers and seven Russian military personnel perished in the hotel explosion that occurred before morning on October 5.

“Have a look and check how the Hotel Ninel is doing,” read the text message, according to Dollar, who brought Reuters to inspect the demolished structure. “I walked over and brought word that the Hotel Ninel was gone.”

The text message was inaccessible to Reuters. Dollar and other partisans claim that they routinely deleted their social media and communications for security concerns.

According to a photo dated Dec. 1 that shows the inscriptions, Dollar and Kosatka received awards from Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov inscribed with appreciation for “cooperating with the armed forces.” Reznikov also decorated Mart and Kolia, the other two members of their four-person group, according to Dollar.

When asked about resistance efforts taking place in occupied area, a representative of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) responded only that “the local community is supportive” and would not elaborate on any particular actions.

According to a number of Ukrainian and Russian-installed authorities as well as members of the Kherson partisan cell, operations to target Russian security officers and thwart their intentions are still going on across large areas of eastern and southern Ukraine seized by Russia and its supporters.

Partisan fighting between Ukrainian forces is reportedly taking place in Melitopol, Tokmak, and Mariupol in the south, as well as Donetsk and Svatove in the east, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

The exiled governor of the eastern region of Luhansk, which has been ruled by Russia since last June, Serhiy Haidai, claimed that partisans were carrying out sabotage operations there and attacking anyone thought to be Russian collaborators.

He attributed a recent attack on a railway line that the Russian military was using to transport personnel and equipment to partisans in an interview on January 23. For security considerations, he declined to provide more information, and Reuters was unable to independently corroborate partisan involvement in the attacks.

FLEEING KHERSON

Dollar, Kolia and Mart – another member of the cell – said they felt compelled to resist the Russian takeover of Kherson because there was no organized defense of their city when the Russians attacked on Feb. 24.

Dollar and Mart’s first overt bid to confront the Russians came on March 1, they said, when they drove a truck loaded with concrete blocks toward the Antonovskiy Bridge, a main entry point to the city, aiming to slow Russia’s advance.

They turned around because they feared the invaders already were in the city, they said.

Dollar considered his options: organize a civil disobedience movement, take up arms or gather intelligence.

Friends put him in touch with an SBU officer. Dollar and Kolia, who were old friends, agreed to collect and relay information on the Russians and build a network of retired police officers, former SBU officials, pensioners, and others, they said.

Kolia, a seasoned hunter who knew the Kherson countryside, solicited information from local villagers, including an elderly woman who would count Russian convoys as she milked her cow.

Between reconnaissance forays, the pair would meet sources in a coffee shop to gather intelligence.

Over the summer one farmer gave Kolia the position of a Russian truck-mounted missile launcher known as a Tochka-U around the village of Muzykivka, about 12 km (7.5 miles) north of Kherson. Dollar said he passed on the information.

The next day the farmer reported to Kolia that there was only a hole in the road where the truck once stood, Dollar said. Reuters could not independently confirm the attack.

Dollar’s wife, Kosatka, recruited her own network of informants, he said. Kosatka declined to comment for this story.

THE AIRPORT

At the same time, Mart pursued an independent intelligence gathering effort, visiting people living near the Kherson International Airport in Chornobaivka on April 10 and urging them in person and over Telegram chats to send him information about Russian troop movements. He codenamed his five-person cell Miami. Reuters did not view the chats, which Mart said he deleted.

Russian forces in March had established their headquarters within the three-square kilometre airport complex, which was repeatedly bombed by Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv said large numbers of Russians soldiers were killed, including at least two generals, while aircraft and ammunition stores were also destroyed. Moscow withdrew its military hardware in October.

As Russian losses mounted, some members of the cell Mart had recruited grew over-confident and began taking greater risks, said Mart and Dollar.

When the Russians arrested four of the Miami members at the end of August, Mart feared they would give him away. Reuters was unable to determine what later happened to the four members.

Mart fled to Vasliyevka village in Zaporizhzhia province, the only checkpoint where Russians allowed Ukrainian civilians to cross into Ukrainian-controlled territory, and then made his way to Kyiv.

Despite the liberation of Kherson, Dollar said he and Kosatka would continue aiding the resistance until Ukrainian troops recover Crimea, where the couple owns an apartment.

“The end of the war for me will be when I move back into my apartment,” he said.

U.S. officials say operations by an underground group of intelligence operatives, ex-soldiers and amateurs coordinating with Ukrainian intelligence services behind enemy lines helped hasten Russia's withdrawal from Kherson https://t.co/UlSdA7Omtr

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 9, 2023

By Jonathan Landay and Tom Balmforth; Edited by News Gate Team