Its operating strategy could come straight out of a Second World War handbook, using locals' intimate knowledge of their land and the element of surprise to harass occupying forces. But this isn't the French Resistance fighting back against the Nazis in the 1940s; it's a Ukrainian guerrilla group called Atesh that claims to be having great success disrupting Russian military activities.
In the ever-complex landscape of the Russia-Ukraine war, Atesh has emerged as a growing force. It was formed by ethnic Ukrainian, Russian and Crimean Tatar partisans in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea in the summer of 2022 following the invasion that February. As well as choosing the Crimean Tatar word for "fire" as its name, the group issued a statement on the Telegram social media app that declared its aims were "to fight for the Ukrainian state" in any way possible – including acting as double agents within the Russian military.
Successes are said to include damaging railway lines used to transport military supplies, assassinating soldiers and providing valuable information to Ukrainian intelligence, as well as ongoing strikes on Russia's Black Sea Fleet and military bases in the region.
Atesh's activities have led to it being "hunted ruthlessly" by the FSB, Russia's security and counter-intelligence service, said The Times. Despite these extensive measures the group has proven resilient, continuing to carry out operations and evade Russian efforts to neutralise it.
"The resistance movement within the occupied peninsula will only amplify," said journalist David Kirichenko in The Kyiv Independent. "Soon, like the rest of Ukraine, Crimea will be a territory of freedom once again." | 
