Yellow Ribbon's efforts have caught the attention of Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, who has used the group to spread his messages in the occupied territory.
Ukrainian partisans in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol seek out collaborators and vandalize ruble banknotes as they gather momentum ahead of Kyiv's expected counteroffensive, an underground resistance leader told The Telegraph.
“The news of the coming counter-offensive and the possibility of an early liberation of Melitopol and the Zaporizhia region really encouraged many people to do something patriotic,” Ivan (not his real name) said. .
“As in the case of Kherson, we are seeing a big boom in pro-Ukrainian sentiment, which is more and more confidently joining the resistance movement,” the IT expert added.
According to him, since only Russian officers remained in the city, resistance fighters stepped up their efforts in anticipation of their long-awaited liberation by the Ukrainian military.
“So far, it’s only officers,” Ivan said, hinting that Russia considers Melitopol to be Kyiv’s real target.
“Russians use saunas to socialize and shower,” he added. “We know the Ukrainians are taking pictures of this and sending it to our armed forces.”
Meanwhile, according to Ivan, Russia sent separatist fighters, Chechens and conscripts, whom Moscow often uses as cannon fodder, to southern front line in anticipation of an attack.
Melitopol, which had a population of about 150,000 before the war, was captured by Russian forces less than a week after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
The city acted as a key logistical hub—through which Moscow tanks and infantry are passing by — for the Kremlin in southern Ukraine, and this is part of a land bridge connecting Russia with the occupied Crimean peninsula.
The importance of Melitopol to Russia's takeover of Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014, has fueled growing expectations that Melitopol could become a leading target for Ukraine's spring counteroffensive.
When Russian troops entered his city last February, Ivan launched from organizing peaceful protests against the occupation, chanting slogans such as “Russians, go home” and “Melitopol is Ukraine.”
Demonstration of resistance
With many of his comrades arrested and likely sent to internment camps deep in Russian-held territory, his Yellow Ribbon non-violent resistance movement has gone deeper underground.
In recent months, its activists have posted pro-Kremlin photos collaborators crossed the streets and decorated Russian ruble banknotes with pro-Ukrainian slogans to undermine their occupiers.
The information they collected was used by local partisan movements and the Ukrainian armed forces to strike at Russian positions, such as military bases and logistics centers. /> The Yellow Ribbon activists decorated Russian ruble banknotes with pro-Ukrainian slogans to undermine the position of their occupiers. the building was turned into a barracks by Chechen militants with patriotic Ukrainian graffiti, prompting pro-Kremlin troops to flee fearing retaliatory attacks.
Yellow Ribbon helped investigate alleged Russian war crimes by compiling detailed dossiers on the deportation of orphans and children from Melitopol, a crime in which Russian President Vladimir Putin was charged by the International Criminal Court.
Yesterday the group designed a new poster with the slogan «Melitopol is Ukraine» to welcome their potential release.
A secret network of printing houses is capable of producing about 200 posters per night, which will be pasted around the city while the Russian occupiers are sleeping.
When Ivan wakes up every morning, he watches a secret information panel, which he helped set up to oversee resistance efforts around Melitopol and other places in occupied Ukraine.
Yellow Ribbon's efforts caught the attention of Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, who used the group to spread his messages in the occupied territories.
Resistance demonstrations will now embark on a European tour, first exhibiting in Brussels today in hopes of drawing more attention to their cause.
Свежие комментарии