Attacks on Russian forces in occupied areas of Ukraine are increasing

Ukrainian military authorities said partisans bombed a Russian military headquarters in the occupied city of Melitopol, killing three officers, the latest in a series of attacks aimed at weakening Russia’s grip on the territory it controls, even as Ukraine’s counteroffensive Kiev has effectively come to a standstill.

Ukraine’s defense intelligence unit described the attack, which took place on Saturday, as an act of revenge and said the explosion killed at least three Russian National Guard officers. The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the event, and it was not possible to independently verify it because it took place behind Russian lines.

“The strike caused panic in Melitopol as many Russian proxy police officers rushed to the scene with their sirens,” the intelligence unit said on the messaging app Telegram on Sunday. “A while later they towed a car that had burned out near the headquarters through the occupied city to their station.”

Melitopol, in southern Ukraine near the Sea of ​​Azov, was captured by Russia early in the war and remains a center for Russian forces and pro-Moscow authorities seeking to assert their control and promote Russian culture and identity . As such, it is also a hotbed of attempted sabotage and assassinations by anti-Russian partisans hoping to disrupt the Kremlin’s control.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, partisan activity has been a hallmark of Ukraine’s military action in the area occupied by Moscow, which represents about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory. That included a series of attacks on Ukrainian politicians who have cooperated with Russian authorities.

These attacks appear to have increased in intensity in recent weeks, in combination with missile and drone attacks on Russian military infrastructure.

Late last month, Russian officials reported that Oleh Tsarov, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament who had supported Moscow’s invasion last year, had been shot in Yalta, a city in the occupied region of Crimea. The Ukrainian security service said it had tried to kill him. Mr Tsarov later posted a video on social media showing he had survived.

In addition, Mychailo Filiponenko, the former head of a pro-Russian militia in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region, died in an assassination attempt last week when his car was blown up, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

“Ukraine appears to be intensifying attacks on Russian military, logistical and other high-profile assets in the rear areas of occupied Ukraine and Russia,” the Institute for the Study of War, a research group based in Washington, reported on Sunday.

The killings come as the counter-offensive launched by the Kiev government in June has largely stalled, having failed to achieve its core goals. Ukraine has failed to achieve a decisive breach of Russian defenses in the Zaporizhia region in the south of the country, or to regain substantial territory in the east.

Military analysts say progress will be more difficult in the coming weeks because the rainy weather makes it harder to use mechanized military transport and because the Ukrainian army will have to rest and rotate its troops.