Ukrainians tap tradition in training for feared guerrilla war with Russia
On Sunday, Sergey Ignatovsky will vote in Ukraine’s snap general election, and put his faith in pro-western politicians to lead his country to victory in its war with separatist rebels and their Russian backers.
But, like a growing number of his countrymen, the Kyiv lawyer is also, as he puts it, “preparing for the very worst”.
“We are getting ready to fight an underground war if necessary,” he says. “For years we didn’t see Russia as a potential enemy and were not ready for aggression from our neighbour. Our defence officials and generals were drinking vodka, selling equipment and making money.”
“At the start of the conflict in the east, our soldiers – even special forces – lacked training and modern gear and experience. They are learning fast, but Russia has been fighting in Chechnya and elsewhere for 20 years.
“So civilians must be ready to resist. Everyone involved should know their role and how to act in a guerrilla war – who to contact, where to go, how to hide, where to get weapons. We need to prepare small groups to act against the enemy, if necessary, across the whole country. And we are starting to train for that now.”
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, insists his country is not involved in a war in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that has killed more than 3,600 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
But serving Russian soldiers have been killed and captured fighting in Ukraine, the West has produced satellite images that allegedly show Russian forces crossing the border and firing artillery into the country, and Kyiv’s soldiers say it was the Russian army they fought in a major “rebel” counterattack in August.
That bloody shift in battlefield momentum forced Kyiv to agree a ceasefire deal with the separatists, and convinced many Ukrainians that Putin would do whatever was necessary to ensure the failure of post- revolution, pro-EU Ukraine.
Volunteer battalion
It also prompted Semyon Semyonchenko, leader of the Ukrainian volunteer battalion Donbas that is fighting in the east, to call on his compatriots to prepare to resist a possible Russian invasion of regions further west, or the incitement by Moscow of insurrection in regions such as Odessa and Kharkiv.
Training weekends are now taking place in several cities, with instruction from army veterans now serving with Donbas – which is named after the industrial, mostly Russian-speaking area that includes Donetsk and Luhansk.
“We don’t just need people who can shoot,” says Ignatovsky. “We need doctors and engineers and communications and information specialists. Lots of different people are involved already – among my friends there are lawyers, businessmen, IT guys and even insurance guys.”