Marta Gichko11:40, 05.02.23

They work secretly and independently of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Volunteers of the secret Ukrainian battalion “Brotherhood”  are working in the occupied territories of Ukraine and in the hinterland of the rear of the Russian Federation .

The British The Guardian  spoke with three “Brotherhood” commandos – 23-year-old Taras, 21-year-old Vladislav and their commander, 39-year-old Alexei. They know that the Ukrainian government will deny any information about them, and the West is concerned about the opinion of their activities, because they fear strikes against Russia. 

The soldiers said that they were carrying out various operations – from the kidnapping of high-ranking Kremlin officials, the destruction of military infrastructure and the “landing” of aircraft on the territory of the Russian Federation. In particular, the Brotherhood soldiers shot down a helicopter with Russian officials, and also ambushed an FSB officer’s car along the route.

“Brotherhood” has a special status – technically the group is independent of the Ukrainian army, but operates side by side with the Defense Forces.

“It’s very easy for us to cross the Russian border,” 21-year-old member Vladislav admitted with a smile.

Volunteers say that they do not stop at the bans, so that in the Russian Federation they feel the height of the fighting in their rear. One of the soldiers spoke about one of his last operations – “simple”, in his opinion.

“Our group had to bring a certain amount of explosives to the territory of Russia and leave them in a certain place. I don’t know for what and to whom these explosives were intended. But I know for sure that some people in Russia are ready to help the Ukrainians,” the fighter said.

As the soldiers note, sometimes Russians find out that saboteurs are working in the Russian Federation. But this greatly demoralizes them and forces them to send a lot of soldiers in search of them. The “Brotherhood” fighters admitted that the operation in the Belgorod region, where a month ago several warehouses with Russian ammunition flew into the air, was their work. No one knows about the operations, even the relatives of the soldiers.

“Your readers may expect us to be blowing up the Kremlin, but so far we’re not. My opinion is to start with small tasks and then move on to more complex ones. My friend has a saying: “To destroy an enemy military base, we must first blow up the dog house,” one of the fighters said.

But not everything always goes according to plan. At Christmas, four of their colleagues, Yuri Gorovets, Maxim Mikhailov, Taras Karpyuk and Bogdan Lyagov died after a raid behind enemy lines.

“We were very calm about these guys and were sure that everything would be fine. We don’t know the details, but we assume that they accidentally entered the second line of Russian defense. And in front of it, the Russians laid mines in the ground,” said one of the soldiers .

At the same time, the “Brotherhood” considers its work much safer than in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“Our operations are actually twice as safe as those carried out by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It seems that this is a very dangerous job, but we are preparing for it very seriously,” Taras said.

Agents of Ukraine in the rear of the Russian Federation

Earlier, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine,  Kirill Budanov  , hinted that Ukrainian agents are working in the Russian Federation , and drones “destroy their illusion of security.” However, he did not confirm the involvement of Ukraine in the explosions at the rear airfields of the Russian Federation and the “bavovna” on the Crimean bridge.

In addition, he stressed that the Kremlin should be wary of collaborators in its environment.

A month ago, Russia announced that they had killed Ukrainian saboteurs. They were Yury Gorovets, Maxim Mikhailov, Taras Karpyuk and Bogdan Lyagov.

(C)UNIAN 2023