Apart from the unbelievable cruelty of its war of aggression against Ukraine, the Russian army has stood out for one thing in particular: poor to catastrophic military performance. Encircled by Putin’s troops, partisans are now teaching the Kremlin warriors to fear in real pockets of resistance.

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His brutal war against Ukraine is going badly for Vladimir Putin. The capture of Kyiv was abandoned two months ago. And in the eastern Ukrainian oblasts (regions) of Donetsk and Luhansk, his troops are not making nearly as much progress as Putin would like. The Russian army has now even withdrawn from the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, less than 50 kilometers from the Russian border. She failed to break the resistance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s troops.

But what is happening in the city of Melitopol, about 50 kilometers north of the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov, shows particularly clearly how much the Ukrainians are putting pressure on Putin’s army. Because around the 150,000-strong city there are apparently several partisan nests. The fighters manage again and again to deliver hard blows to the attackers, who far outnumber them. And this despite the fact that the entire region is in Russian hands. Melitopol is completely surrounded by Russian troops.

According to the regional administration, 100 Russian soldiers have been killed by partisan fighters in Melitopol alone, halfway between Mariupol and Cherson. Several high-ranking Russian officers were also among the killed Russian soldiers, as Ivan Fedorov, Melitopol’s mayor, announced on Telegram.

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As a direct reaction, Putin’s troops tightened controls on private cars on Tuesday to track down the partisans, the regional administration announced via Telegram. In addition, Russian units are said to have broken into private garages and stolen cars on several occasions in search of guerrilla fighters.

According to the AP news agency, the Russian occupiers tried to keep the killing of their officers a secret. The regional authority’s communications also cannot be confirmed by independent sources.

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According to information from the US Institute for War Studies (ISW ) in Washington D.C., the activities of the Ukrainian partisans range from over an area almost 150 kilometers in extent from east to west and almost 100 kilometers from north to south.

According to the Ukrainian media portal “Ukrinform”, the partisans had carried out more than 20 “successful attacks” against the Russian troops in the city alone. The city had meanwhile been completely under Russian control.

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