Role of ‘shadow soldiers’ in Russian-Ukrainian war

With the war continuing in Ukraine after the Russian invasion about a year ago, the echoes of the Ukrainian counterattacks carried out by so-called “shadow soldiers” continue, as they had a role in restoring parts of southern and eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv announced that it had re-imposed its control over more than 8,000 square kilometers of territory occupied by Russia.

Secret operations are described as one of the most important factors in the Ukrainian-Russian war, as the shadow soldiers consist of civilian supporters. They are ordinary citizens who joined the war effort, and many of them work in secret behind enemy lines. They are also behind some of the biggest victories for Ukraine, as they set up ambushes and destroyed infrastructure, and they even carried out assassinations deep in Russian-occupied territories such as Crimea.

Civil participation has a large share among those who form a resistance front, as Ukrainians can now record Russian movements on a mobile app called “E-Enemy”, and they also used another app dedicated to recording administrative documents daily.

These attacks could not be carried out without Western support and presence on Ukrainian soil, especially since there is unlimited military aid provided by Western countries to Kyiv. Since the end of August 2022, the Ukrainian army has announced two massive counteroffensives. The first was in the northeast, where the Russian forces were expelled from the Kharkiv region, and the Ukrainian forces intensified their attacks until they reached the borders of the Luhansk region.

As for the second attack, it was concentrated in the south, where Ukrainian forces managed to expel Russian forces from the city of Kherson and the surrounding area in November 2022.

Civilians have also received training in many dangerous tasks, including blowing up Russian vehicles and ways to cut supply lines. The secret army of civil resistance operates behind enemy lines, blends into the background within occupied towns, and informs Ukrainians of the whereabouts of Russian positions. It is believed that about 10,000 people are doing this work.

In this regard, Mostafa Kamel El-Sayed, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said that the Ukrainian resistance or the secret operations taking place in some cities in Ukraine could harm the Russian army but will not significantly affect the course of the war or defeat the Russians.

Sayed explained in a special statement to the Reference that Russia is waging a conventional war in which it uses advanced tanks and large numbers of soldiers, in addition to artillery and drones, and therefore it is not logical for these tools to be defeated in normal battles waged by the resistance or that Russia suffers such losses summed up in the death of a number of soldiers.

The secret operations will not stop the progress of the Russian forces that are besieging Bakhmut from three sides, as Berlin will not back down through conventional operations, Sayed added, stressing that Ukraine wants to obtain advanced tanks from Germany, which will take time to train on them, as well as aircraft from the United States, but the latter did not agree.