- A Ukrainian partisan group says Russian soldiers are increasingly cooperating with them.
- In turn, they get money and the chance to go abroad, the Atesh guerrilla group told the Kyiv Post.
Russian troops who are working with a Ukrainian partisan group as double agents are killing their own soldiers in exchange for cash and the chance to live abroad, The Kyiv Post reported on Monday.
The partisan movement of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars (ATESH) — an underground guerilla group fighting back against Russia within occupied territory — sent a Russian soldier to blow up two trucks at a military base in the occupied city of Henichesk, in Kherson Oblast last week, a spokesperson told the outlet.
The soldier, who was not named, put 10 kilograms of explosives between the trucks and then detonated them as troops were boarding the vehicles, the spokesperson said.
The operation took more than a month to plan and involved the Russian soldier gathering information about the location of the trucks and troops beforehand, they added.
A growing number of Russian soldiers are cooperating with Ukrainian partisans and, in turn, "agree to cooperate for material benefits and the possibility of leaving for Ukraine and the EU," the spokesperson told the Kyiv Post.
The Russian soldier involved in the military base attack has since "successfully left" the area and "decisions are being made on their transfer to the territory controlled by Ukraine," they added.
The guerilla group also posted about the operation on Telegram, writing: "Result: two trucks with personnel were destroyed," according to a translation by the Kyiv Post.
It is unclear how many people died, but ATESH told the Kyiv Post that most of the soldiers in the two trucks died immediately and four are in hospital in serious condition.
The strike is part of Ukraine's larger plan to take back Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
ATESH was created in September last year with the goal of carrying out acts of sabotage from within the ranks of the Russian army, The Guardian reported.
The comments come several days after ATESH also claimed Ukraine's devastating attack on a shipyard in Crimea that damaged a Russian sub and landing vessel was partly done with the help of another Russian double agent.