Ukraine Resistance Shifts From Public Acts to Covert Intelligence Operations

Ukrainian military intelligence has shifted its operations inside Russian-occupied areas from visible protests to targeted intelligence collection that supports drone strikes. A Ukrainian officer using the name Serhiy posed as a civilian on messaging apps to obtain photographs from Russian soldiers that revealed unit locations.

One such image led to a strike on a barracks in occupied southern Ukraine.

Dmytro, a resistance coordinator in occupied Kherson, said early operations relied on public displays such as displaying Ukrainian flags. Those activities declined after Russian forces established surveillance systems and interrogation procedures. Current work centers on locating air-defense sites, supply depots, and command posts for strikes conducted from unoccupied territory.

Operatives report that nearly half the adult population in Mariupol has undergone polygraph examinations by Russian security services.

Russian-installed software called Druge on phones sold in occupied areas records messages, photos, and location data. Devices without the app or with encrypted messaging applications trigger additional checks at checkpoints. Resistance members rely on phones brought in from outside the occupied zones.

Messages are composed on clean devices and transmitted through internet connections provided by a second phone already registered on local networks. Petro Andriushchenko, who coordinates a cell in Mariupol, stated that pro-Ukrainian graffiti or visible movements can lead to identification and detention.