Die unsichtbare Armee, mit der Putin konfrontiert sein wird, wenn die Ukraine gezwungen wird, Land aufzugeben

***The Telegraph reports:***

The agent had been watching for weeks, carefully observing the movements of Russian patrols, surveillance blind spots and the irregular arrival of the cargo trains.

Slipping from the shadows, he planted homemade bombs on a railway track used to bring weapons and supplies to Moscow’s troops in eastern [Ukraine](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/12/30/trump-talks-us-boots-ground-ukraine/). “Boom, boom, boom”, he heard as he disappeared into the night.

Recounting his recent mission in [occupied Donetsk](https://connect.telegraph.co.uk/Citrix/TMGWeb/clients/HTML5Client/src/SessionWindow.html?launchid=1767274272232), the civilian working for the Ukrainian resistance told The Telegraph: “The goal was simple: disrupt transport on that route. I did everything so that the line simply became unusable long enough to stop traffic.”

He knows his brave act isn’t war-changing, but it provided “a bit of extra time for our troops on the other side of the front”. Combined with the efforts of at least 2,000 other agents working for [Atesh](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/12/i-set-fire-to-my-own-trenches-to-stop-putin-winning-war/), a pro-Ukrainian underground resistance network, “it adds up”, the 30-year-old agent said.

His testimony is a rare look inside the dangerous sabotage missions carried out by men and women behind enemy lines to derail [Vladimir Putin](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/russia-ukraine-war/)’s war effort.

“[Makiivka](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/01/02/hundreds-killed-ukrainian-himars-flatten-russian-barracks-one/) is my town. I know who walks where, where the streetlights don’t work, where dogs bark for no reason and I don’t stand out,” the agent added. It is because of exactly this – his intimate local knowledge – that an ordinary civilian has become such a valuable asset in the occupied territory.

It is the “invisible enemy” Putin may not be prepared for if Ukraine is [forced to surrender land](https://connect.telegraph.co.uk/Citrix/TMGWeb/clients/HTML5Client/src/SessionWindow.html?launchid=1767274272232) – including perhaps the rest of the [Donbas](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/18/maps-why-entire-peace-deal-hangs-on-small-strip-ukraine/), under the terms of a peace deal being pushed by Donald Trump, the US president.

Atesh and its agents The Telegraph spoke to argued that a ceasefire will not bring peace but mark a new stage in the shadow war being waged by Ukrainian resistance movements.

**Read more:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/06/invisible-army-resistance-sabotage-agents-occupied-liberate/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/06/invisible-army-resistance-sabotage-agents-occupied-liberate/)

Precisely what force on earth would ***force*** Ukraine to cede land in a war Ukraine is winning, if you don’t mind me asking?

Been saying this since the start of the war: even if the Ukrainian government capitulates completely, Russia still has an entire mountain to climb. And the more of Ukraine Russia takes, the worse it will be.

Ukraine is flooded with weapons. Not just guns; anti tanks weapons, manpads, and millions of drones. And the Ukrainian people have a taste for freedom now. Ukraine would be Chechnya times 50. Most Ukrainians speak fluent Russian and are indistinguishable from Russians, and would flood Russia with sabotage and terror attacks if they weren’t already on the front lines fighting Russia there and under tacit agreement with the Ukrainian government on what they should and shouldn’t do to resist Russian aggression.

Given Russian Nationalism/authoritarianism, it’s likely such acts of resistance would result in escalation of violence. Russia would respond to such attacks with summary executions, mass torture and incarceration, further enraging Ukrainians and leading to ever greater violence in return. Russia will need a million strong occupation force, constantly being sniped, bombed with drones and IEDs or ambushed by partisans armed with Javelins, NLAWs, etc.

Russia has created so much rage: bombing civilians, torturing civilians and POWs, kidnapping children, etc. So many families broken with nothing to lose. Their soldiers going on „safari hunts“ with drones to attack civilians. I’m not sure how, short of a full withdrawal and massive reparations, Russia can avoid bearing the brunt of Ukrainian vengeance.

This is why Putin favours genocide.