cooperate with the enemy A trade as old as war itself treason heavy prison sentences and sometimes life sentences. that’s what’s inside Ukrainewhere a minority of Ukrainians put themselves at the service of the state invading troops of the Kremlin. Either by faith, by opportunism, or by violent coercion by the occupying powers. those collaborators They provide coordinates on Ukrainian military positions, report on their routines, identify war veterans and members of the Territorial Defense Forces, or work as senior officials at the dictation of the Kremlin. busy areas. Extremely risky business, this last one: so much so that some don’t live to tell about it.
Alexey Kovalek One of them. end of august death shot Russian and Ukrainian media confirmed that there was an attack at his home in which his girlfriend was seriously injured by several stab wounds to the neck. Kovalek had secretly switched sides. to become a deputy ukraine parliament in the ranks of the president Volodymyr Zelenskyit happened Deputy Governor of Kherson State After falling into the hands of the Russians in the early stages of the war. survived in June car bomb attackA chance that will not be repeated.
As with Kovalek, almost twenty Ukrainians they occupied liability charges on Russian civil and military administration in occupied areas has been attacked, by the number of the ‘WarTranslated’ portal. The list includes: mayors, chiefs of police, professors anyone senior district officials‘hunted’ in every possible way: one turned up hangedanother ended up in hospital poisonedothers fell death shot or their victims explosive attacks. Of all these, eleven would die and eight would be injured. “The sent message is clear: if you are a traitor or if you support the occupying forces, your life is in danger“, Oleksiy Melnyk, a former senior position in the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and now an analyst at the Razumkov Center, tells this newspaper.
this extrajudicial executions It has intensified since last August as Kyiv prepares to launch its counter-offensive in the northwest and south, and this has allowed it to regain it for the time being. Kharkiv province easier than expected. And they are trying not only to put a price on cooperation with Russia, but also to blow up the organization. referendum at gunpoint That Russia intends to give a legal patina to the Ukrainian conquests. “The hunt for collaborators who helped prepare fake referendums has begun,” said the exiled mayor of Melitopol a few weeks ago. Ivan Fedorov. None are currently held.
government operations
“This is an active war. In peacetime, these attacks are conceivable. terror actsbut now they are a part guerrilla war‘, says Melnyk. ukrainian authorities They did not claim responsibility for any of the murders, but they did not deny them either. “For me, ukrainian special forces and secret services they are behind most of the deaths, but everything indicates that others may have been committed by resistance partisans,” adds the military expert.
At least two of the murders originally described were ultimately denied. In particular, Nova Kajovka’s deputy chief of police in Kherson, Sergey Tomkoand two numbers of the same regional government, Vital Gura. According to the Russian Federal Security Service, the feared FSBThe deaths of both were fabricated by their own agents as part of an operation to apprehend Ukrainian spies who allegedly planned to kill them. Both Tomko and Gura later appeared in a program on Russian Channel 1.
More than 1300 Ukrainians were investigated
Even so, the sharp blade seems reserved for some notorious positions because they Hundreds of Ukrainians were arrested to this day to cooperate with the invading troops. at the end of June More than 1300 people are being investigatedAccording to Zelensky’s government, which changed the law shortly after the invasion began, 15 years in prison cooperation with the enemy. Life imprisonment is foreseen for the most serious cases.
Distinguishing the true nature of detainees can be a complex task. “There is very fine line between cooperating with the enemy and continuing to operate in the occupied territories. Does the teacher have an obligation to practice? russian resume Or is it the police patrolling the streets?” Melnyk asks. Every time the Russians lost territory, it is certain that their collaborators had no choice but to put land between them, as was seen after the Russian withdrawal from the Kharkov region.
“They are gathering what they can, they are gathering their families and leaving,” the governor of Luhansk said this week. Sergey Hayday. According to officials in Kiev, hundreds of Ukrainian collaborators have fled to escape in recent days. Russia or they took refuge in areas still occupied by Kremlin troops.