While much of the media both in the west and in Russia is naturally focused on activities along the front lines of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukrainian partisans are still an important strategic dimension, as they continue to disrupt activity in Russia’s rear, not only adding to Russia’s logistics woes but creating security concerns that limit the number of troops Russia can commit to the front in any particular sector.

The latest Ukrainian partisan activity includes a number of bombings in the occuppied city of Melitopol.

This is the second explosion of an improvised explosive device in Melitopol in recent days. So, on November 11, Andrey Boyko, Deputy Minister of the Region for Culture, Sports and Tourism, suffered from a bomb explosion planted in the storm drain of the entrance of the house where he lives. During the assassination attempt, the official received minor injuries, a criminal case was opened.

It is important to understand that Melitopol is the city where a number of Ukrainian highways leading into Kherson and Crimea Oblasts converge, making the city an important logistics hub for Russia.

Partisan guerilla (or terrorist, depending on your chosen perspective) activity in Melitopol almost certainly has the strategic objective of weakening Russia’s already weak logistics, and also has the potential to limit the number of front line forces. If there is an increase in asymmetric attacks, it will almost certainly have a knock-on effect of forcing Russia to use more troops in garrison duty rather than deploying to the front lines to face an increasingly better trained, better disciplined, and better supplied Ukrainian Armed Forces.

One more reason Russia’s invastion of Ukraine is not going as planned.

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