Secret front of Kherson Oblast. How resistance draws Ukraine’s victory in Russian-occupied south closer
VLADYSLAV HOLOVIN – WEDNESDAY, 7 DECEMBER 2022, 16:00
"They [Russian forces – ed.] were moving in large columns in places where we know all the roads and shortcuts like the back of our hands. When we saw them entering into a dead end, we knew exactly which way they would have to move, because we grew up in these places. We passed the coordinates to ours [Armed Forces of Ukraine – ed.] Our forces then attacked these columns using artillery", recalls 23-year-old Oleksii Chechyn, who spent a long time under Russian occupation.
Oleksii was born and raised near Kherson, in the village of Shyroka Balka, and grew up in a family of farmers; which consisted of parents and three sons. Long ago, his village became a winter camp for the Perevizka palinka [administrative-territorial unit of the Zaporizhian Host – ed.] of the Cossack Hetmanate.
On the first day of the Russian invasion, the guys went to the nearest military enlistment office.
"We were told, ‘You have no combat experience. Just wait. We will call you’, Oleksii says.
"While we were waiting, orcs [Russian troops – ed.] had already entered the village", he adds.
The brothers decided to fight in their own way.
Patrolling
As you listen to his story, you understand that Oleksii and his compatriots became fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine despite the fact that they were not accepted at the military registration and enlistment office. They were soldiers who worked behind enemy lines. They also risked their lives, but without weapons.
Chechyn divides the activity of the force, which he was a part of, into two stages: before and after the occupation. Up until the Russians entered the village, he, his brothers and friends founded a small unit, which performed police functions in the village.
"We were patrolling, making sure that no one was looting", he recalls.
The guys were looking for a drone to reconnoitre where the Russians were. They found two quadcopters, which schools of Shyroka Balka and a neighbouring village gave them.
"We tried to approach as closely as possible to the Russians, launched a drone, then saved the video [recorded using it – ed.] and sent it to our troops."
Communication with the Ukrainian Armed Forces was spontaneous at first. The guys just passed the intelligence to friends they trusted and who knew how to deliver the information to the Ukrainian military. However, later the secret services of Ukraine explained to them the correct and more effective algorithm of such work.
"The bot of the channel Mykolaiv Vanek, [at first – ed.] you send the collected intelligence to it, immediately after sending, all of this data is deleted from the phone or other device," says General Dmytro Marchenko, who led the defence of Mykolaiv and organised cooperation with the resistance from the free part of Ukraine.
Such software provided an opportunity to the resistance to remain "clean" for the Russians for a long time. But over time, the Russians learned about this channel; most likely, one of the local collaborators "helped them".
"The Russians arrested many people, but during interrogations they beat most severely those who had the Mykolaiv Vanek channel", recalls one of the Kherson residents, who lived throughout the entire occupation.
Then the resistance found another way out. They hid smartphones, and when they left the house, they had old push-button phones on them.
"They [Russian troops - ed.] stop you at a checkpoint or on the street, demand to check your phone, you give them a push-button phone – and they just let you go, as there is nothing to ‘catch on to", the same resident says.
Occupation
When Russians captured Shyroka Balka, it became impossible for Oleksii and his brothers-in-arms to patrol the village. All that was left for them to do was only to directly approach the Russian forces’ positions. The guys developed a new trick.
"We drove out a combine harvester to the field. We knew which forest plots their positions are most of the time, Oleksii recounts. "A drone was hidden in the combine harvester’s cabin. We approached, launched a drone and recorded everything."
Oleksii laughed as he was recollecting this supposed farming activity, "They are stupid, really stupid. They were sure all this time that their positions were exposed because of Bayraktars or satellite data, but it was much simpler."
The boys received the most satisfaction when they saw the results of their work.
"One time, five of their self-propelled artillery units were trying to get installed, we burned them all [spotted and sent the information to the Armed Forces of Ukraine - ed.], and then we watched - there were a few strikes. Minus one self-propelled artillery unit, minus the second one - and then they [Russians] transferred the rest to different positions."
The precise targetting of strikes on Russian forces’ positions significantly changed in summer when the Armed Forces of Ukraine received more modern weapons instead of Soviet-made ones - HIMARS and M777 howitzers, as the partisan recounts.
"Earlier, when they [Ukrainian defenders] struck with Soviet-made artillery, shooting adjustment was always drawn out - five explosions off target, and only the sixth as a hit. And now it is generally only one miss, an adjustment, with the second one is precisely on target."
When harvesting ended it became more difficult to go out in the field; they would expose their methods. The boys began working at night. They crawled as closely as possible to the positions of Russian soldiers and then launched drones. Later, they even opted out of using drones in order not to put themselves in extra danger; transferring to the Ukrainian military only coordinates, not videos or photos.
"Our coordinates were trusted because everything we sent before was precise," Oleksii remembered.
Interrogations
Even though Russians could not figure out what methods the locals worked with, partisans were constantly getting arrested. That started right after the capture of Shyroka Balka in March 2022.
"They knew exactly where to go, to which house in the village. There was an entire crowd in two armoured vehicles," Oleksii said.
They put bags on the head and fastened hands behind the back, then drove somewhere in the steppes of Kherson Oblast for half a day and returned to the city in the evening.
"They were shouting and demanding us to tell them who in the Security Service of Ukraine we were working for; down on our knees," the guy recounted.
He was most afraid for his brother, as he had two tattoos. The first one was a trident covering his whole back and first lines of the anthem on the right arm. The brother was lucky as one occupier rolled up his sleeve with only a few centimetres were left to the anthem tattoo. They also looked at his back purely nominally, checking only a few centimetres near the waist.
"If he rolled up his sweater a little bit higher, everything would have become clear right away. I don’t know if my brother would have survived then."
Oleksii and his friends were arrested eight times in total.
"They beat us up only on four interrogations. Usually they let us go in the morning afterwards."
Why did they let us go? The entire group had the general legend, coordinated in every detail.
"We were constantly discussing what would we answer if we got arrested," Oleksii explained.
The Russians could not find any proof of underground resistance activity of the movement participants.
According to Oleksii, a typical interrogation looked like this: a group of three or four captives with their hands tied were taken to a room and sat on chairs. Orcs (Russians) themselves sat down at the table, drank vodka and chatted about some everyday topics for a long time. Then, one of them rose up without any questions and warnings, took a chair and started beating the first captive who caught his eye with it. It was sometimes an iron stool - those blows were bloodier.
There were cases when boys were tortured to death; even those who had nothing to do with the underground resistance.
Guys who were still alive were usually taken outside after torture, and thrown to the ground somewhere near the trenches. They were left lying down there for several hours exhausted, barely breathing and with their hands tied.
"When someone "cracked", for instance, confessed that some of his relatives served or were serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this person was taken to a car and then driven away somewhere, we did not seen him after that."
Counterroffensive and return
After another strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Shyroka balka area, Oleksii and his brother decided to break through to theirs.
"It was already too obvious, he explains, "staying there became more dangerous each and every time.
They decided to go through the front line. They deleted all the photos on their phones that could be evidence for the occupiers, they did not take any weapons, even though they had them. It was necessary to secure oneself in case of arrest.
Only photos of wives and children were left in the phones to support the legend - they are trying to get to their relatives, because the Russians have cut off all other evacuation routes.
They crawled through the fields at night, but did not notice the retreating position of the Russian occupiers - an observation dugout was at a distance of 400-500 meters from the Ukrainian positions.
The occupiers noticed the boys and started shooting at them. One of the bullets hit Oleksii in the foot. They were wounded and were dragged into the dugout. They were interrogated there, but the commander of that unit ordered the soldier to provide first aid to Oleksii. Their story was believed, they were taken to the main positions.
"We were interrogated by an officer from the DPR [self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic], he turned out to be more adequate", says Oleksii.
"Neither you nor we need this war," he said to the folks and let them go. My brother went home, and Chechyn was sent to a hospital in Kherson.
Wounded Oleksii was in the Kherson hospital for a long time. Then he was sent home to Shyroka Balka. Only with the arrival of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the partisan was evacuated to Mykolaiv, where treatment was easier. At least there was electricity.
It turned out that Oleksii needed two more operations to save his leg. He is being treated and is waiting for his wife to return with a newborn child - her relatives left with her pregnant to the free part of Ukraine back in March, and Oleksii became a father when he was under occupation. He saw his daughter only in the photo.
"I want to hold her in my hands", admits the young father.
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"The activity of the partisans was significantly decisive in the battle for Kherson, because it was thanks to their help that it was possible to destroy a lot of equipment and manpower of the enemy", believes General Dmytro Marchenko.
He does not disclose the details of the partisan who organised Nykolaevskyi Vanek (Mykolaiv Vanek) channel, as his activities are still ongoing.
After the liberation of Kherson, Marcelo (the general's call sign) personally visited Shyroka Balka and several surrounding villages, where other partisans, who have not yet revealed themselves worked. He thanked all the folks and handed out simple incentive awards - chevrons.
"The real awards will be a little later, explains "Uncle Dima", as he is called on the Mykolaiv Vanek channel.
What will Oleksii and his brothers do next?
"Now - we will definitely join the Armed Forces, my brother - in the near future, and I - as soon as my leg heals", says Chechyn.
The liberation of the Kherson region continues. Are the constant explosions of warehouses and equipment in the occupied part of the region the work of partisans? Neither General Marchenko nor anyone else in the Armed Forces answers such questions. Silence mode. Which turned out to be surprisingly effective.
Vladyslav Holovin, especially for Ukrainska Pravda
Translation:
Artem Yakymyshyn
Myroslava Zavadska
Elina Beketova
Editor: David Matthews