When Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, it occupied vast portions of the country, having already occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as well as the entirety of Crimea since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2014. Partisan groups began to be organized in mid-2022. These groups have been involved in intelligence-gathering, sabotage, and assassinations. Much of their activity has taken place in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts of southern Ukraine.
2022 March On 1 March, the mayor of Kreminna, Volodymyr Struk was abducted from his home. His wife claimed that unknown camouflaged men entered their property and kidnapped her husband. On 2 March, Struk was found shot dead with a gunshot wound in his chest. Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine claimed that Struk was killed by "unknown patriots", suggesting that locals were responsible for his abduction and assassination. Struk was known to be an important pro-Russia figure in the Luhansk Oblast with "money and support from the Russian Federation", who had already expressed support for Russian proxy-forces back in 2014. Before his death, Struk called on local authorities to communicate and collaborate with approaching Russian forces.
On 20 March, two unknown assailants shot and killed the assistant to Vladimir Saldo, Pavel Slobodchikov, in his car outside Saldo's house in Kherson.
April On 3 April, the Ukrainian government stated that two Russian soldiers were killed and 28 others hospitalized after Ukrainian civilians handed out poisoned cakes to Russian soldiers of the Russian 3rd Motor Rifle Division in Izium, Kharkiv Oblast.
On 20 April, pro-Russian blogger Valery Kuleshov was shot and killed while in his car in Kherson.
On 21 April, on a television interview, the elected mayor of Russian-occupied Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, said that, according to Ukrainian intelligence, Ukrainian partisans had killed 100 Russian soldiers in the city, primarily Russian police patrols and mostly through ambushes at night. Fedorov also claimed that the Russian army was struggling to deal with these partisans, as the majority of the population of Melitopol was against the Russian presence.
On 21 April, Ukrayinski Novini reported that partisans in occupied Kherson had left a banner with a message on a pole in the city, which said: "Russian occupier and everyone who supports their regime. We are close—we are already working in Kherson. Death awaits you all! Kherson is Ukraine!".
On 25 April, Pavel Sharogradsky, a pro-Russian resident of Novoaidar in the Luhansk Oblast was kidnapped by unknown suspects, after becoming a high-profile collaborator in the town. Sharogradsky met with representatives of the Russian Armed Forces and reportedly gave away names and addresses of local political activists, veterans of the Ukrainian army, suspected partisans and their families. A couple of days later, his dead body was found with severe injuries and a gunshot wound to his head.
On 26 April, the Governor of Mykolaiv Oblast, Vitalii Kim, said that there had been resistance against the Russian army in the Kherson Oblast for two months and that Ukrainian partisans had killed 80 Russian troops in the region.
On 28 April, 24 Kanal reported that partisans in occupied Nova Kakhovka had left a banner with a message on a pole in the city. It said as follows: "Russian occupier! Know! Kakhovka is Ukraine! We are close! Our people are already working here! Death awaits you! Kakhovka is Ukraine!".
On 28 April, Apostrophe reported that guerrillas blew up the railway bridge in Yakymivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
On 30 April, members of the Berdiansk Partisan Army (BPA) posted a video on Telegram calling for Russian troops to leave Berdiansk. They announced that they were organizing their forces and that they were "ready to come out of the shadows". The account of this organization was used during the invasion for gathering and showing evidence of Russian crimes in the city and information about collaborators with the Russian army in Berdiansk.
May On 13 May, Oleksii Reznikov, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, spoke of the defeats and difficulties that Russian troops had been experiencing in Ukraine ever since the start of the invasion. Reznikov also spoke of the partisans in Kherson, Melitopol and other localities, calling them "an important contribution to common victory".
On 22 May, in occupied Enerhodar, Ukrainian partisans detonated an explosive in front of a residential building where the Russian-installed mayor of the city Andrei Shevchik was located. Shevchik and his bodyguards sustained injuries of varying severity, and Shevchik ended up in intensive care. He was first taken to a hospital in Enerhodar and then to another in Melitopol.
On 28 May, an unknown person attempted to set fire to a Russian military enlistment office in Simferopol, Russian-occupied Crimea. The suspect reportedly used a molotov cocktail in the unsuccessful attack, which only caused minor damage.
In late May, six Russian border guards at the Zernovo border checkpoint in northern Ukraine were reportedly killed on the week of 30 May – 5 June when they were attacked by Ukrainian partisans. Two days later, a bomb exploded near the office of Russian-installed Zaporizhzhia Oblast governor Yevhen Balytskyi, a pro-Russian official and de facto mayor of Melitopol.
June
On 18 June, an explosive device went off in the car of Yevgeny Sobolev, the head of the Kherson Region penal service. He survived the blast and was taken to a hospital according to TASS.
On 20 June, three Russian soldiers were at a waterfront cafe in Kherson when a shooter opened fire at them. Two of the soldiers were killed, while the surviving soldier was hospitalized, according to Ukrainian Southern Command.
On 24 June, in occupied Kherson, a Russian appointed official, Dmitry Savluchenko, was killed by a car bomb, reportedly placed by Ukrainian partisans.
July On 7 July police officer Serhii Tomko who had defected to the Russian side was shot and killed in his vehicle in Nova Kakhovka.
On 11 July, Yevgeny Yunakov, the Russian-appointed administrator of Velykyi Burluk was killed by a car bomb according to TASS.
On 24 July, partisans in Melitopol attacked rail infrastructure during the night, causing moderate damage to a section of railway. Explosions were reportedly heard near the Melitopol Airfield and near the village of Kostyantynivka, according to the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov.
On 26 July, Euromaidan Press reported that the Satelit factory in Mariupol had been attacked by partisans and "has been burning for 10 days".
On 27 July, in occupied Kherson an improvised explosive blew up a car with two defecting police officers inside of it, both were severely injured and one later died from his wounds.
On 28 July, The Daily Telegraph reported that posters with the message "Can't leave? HIMARS will help you" had begun appearing in Kherson.
On 29 July, partisans in Luhansk Oblast burned a distribution box controlling the railway traffic lights, junctions and crossings near Svatove during the night, according to the head of the Luhansk Regional Military-Civil Administration, Serhiy Haidai. Also on 29 July, Petro Andriushchenko, the Advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol, reported that partisans had set grain fields near the city on fire so that Russian forces would not be able to steal and export the grain.
August On 4 August, a local partisan group ambushed a car, which was carrying the Russian-installed mayor and his deputy in Bilovodsk, a town in the northern part of the Luhansk Oblast. Both passengers sustained injuries from the small arms fire that targeted their car and had to undergo medical treatment.
On 6 August, Ukrainian media reported that the deputy head of the Russian administration in Nova Kakhovka, Vitaly Guru, was shot dead in his home; this was, however, refuted.
On 11 August, Askyar Laishev, a former traffic police officer and the Russian-appointed Head of Intelligence of the Luhansk Oblast, was killed when resistance fighters blew up his car in Starobilsk. He was reportedly able to eject from his burning car, but later succumbed to his injuries. Laishev's ties to Russian proxies were exposed back in 2014, when Oleh Liashko's volunteer unit Ukrayina found out that Laishev was covering for a local separatist named Vikor Rybalko, who was involved in organizing a referendum on the independence of the region. The incident was caught on camera by former Vice News reporter Simon Ostrovsky, who joined Liashko and his men on a nightly raid.
On 13 August, pictures of leaflets, which were taken in Lysychansk, started to appear online. The posters contained messages, in which the partisans threatened the lives of local collaborators and Russian-installed officials. This is part of a presumed larger intimidation operation in the western Luhansk Oblast, as similar posters started to appear in Sievierodonetsk a month earlier.
On 15 August, mayor of Melitopol reported that guerrillas blew up the railway bridge which was used by Russians near the city.
On 20 August, pro-Ukrainian partisans conducted an unsuccessful attack against Konstantin Ivashchenko, the Russian-installed mayor of Mariupol, using an improvised explosive device.
On 23 August, Ihor Telehin, the deputy head of the internal policy department in Kherson Oblast was injured in a targeted explosion.
On 24 August, the head of the Russian-appointed administration of Mykhailivka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast Ivan Sushko was wounded in a car bombing, he was taken to a hospital and died there from his wounds.
On 26 August, Russian-appointed official Oleksandr Koliesnikov, the deputy chief of the Berdiansk traffic police was injured in an explosion. He was taken to hospital with shrapnel wounds, where he died hours later.
On 28 August, People's Deputy of Ukraine Oleksii Kovalov, who according to Ukrainian authorities at the beginning of July had assumed the position of deputy head of the Russian-appointed government of Kherson Oblast, was shot dead in his own home. According to further reports, his girlfriend also died in hospital after she was stabbed.
On 30 August, partisans reportedly launched attacks on pro-Russian security forces in Kherson city.
September On 3 September, Maksym Mahrynov, a local from Tokmak in Zaporizhzhia Oblast blew himself up in front of his home when the Russian military tried to arrest him for guiding Ukrainian artillery fire. The blast killed Mahrynov on the spot and caused two more casualties among the Russian servicemen.
On 6 September, Russian-installed official Artem Bardin was heavily wounded when his car was blown up in Berdiansk. Russian officials reported that he had lost both of his legs and doctors were "fighting for his life" in the hospital where he was kept. Bardin later died in the hospital.
On 7 September, the headquarters of a pro-Russian organization called "We Are Together With Russia" was bombed in Melitopol.
On 10 September, Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai claimed that Ukrainian partisans had managed to capture parts of Kreminna during the 2022 Ukrainian Kharkiv Oblast counteroffensive.
On 16 September, the Deputy Head of Berdiansk CAA for Housing and Communal Services Oleg Boyko and his wife, Lyudmila Boyko—who was head of the city's election commission for the referendum to join Russia—were killed near their garage in Berdiansk in an apparent assassination.
On 16 September, Serhiy Horenko, the Prosecutor General of the Luhansk People's Republic and his deputy Kateryna Stehlenko were killed in a bomb attack that targeted their office in Luhansk, Luhansk Oblast.
On 17 September, unknown suspects targeted a car belonging to Russian propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov in an arson attack. The incident happened at Kiselyov's mansion in Koktebel, occupied Crimea.
October–November