Russia can thank a double-agent for the attack on its Crimea shipyard, Ukrainian partisans say
- A Ukrainian partisan group says a Russian military member helped Ukraine with its strike in Crimea.
- This week, Ukrainian forces attacked a Russian shipyard in Sevastopol.
A Ukrainian partisan group alleges that a double agent in the Russian military helped plan the devastating attack on a shipyard in Crimea that damaged a Russian sub and landing vessel.
The partisan movement of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars (ATESH) — an armed underground guerilla group fighting back against Russia within occupied territory — told the Kyiv Post that they got inside information from a Russian military member.
"We managed to attract one of the military members of the Russian Black Sea Fleet," ATESH told the outlet. "He got up-to-date information about the placement and probable combat missions of the Rostov-on-Don submarine."
That intel helped Ukrainian forces strike the crucial Russian naval base in Sevastopol, Crimea, on the Black Sea.
On Wednesday, Ukraine's air force launched 10 cruise missiles at the shipyard, significantly damaging Russia's Minsk landing vessel and an attack submarine, the Rostov-on-Don.
Russia said in a Telegram post that it had downed seven of those missiles and three of Ukraine's sea drones.
ATESH told the Kyiv Post that it wasn't just a mole in the Russian military that gave them the crucial intel, but also local residents.
"Much of the information was received from ordinary residents of Sevastopol, who constantly send us information about Russian troops," ATESH said, according to the outlet.
"The constantly growing Ukrainian underground partisan movement demonstrates that the inhabitants of Crimea are ready to fight against Russia," ATESH told the Kyiv Post.
The strike is part of Ukraine's larger plan to take back Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. A retired US army general previously told Insider that the attack is proof of Ukraine's strategy to make the region "untenable" for Russian occupation.