Atesh (movement)

Atesh (Crimean Tatar: Ateş, literally "Fire", ) is a military partisan movement in the occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as in the territory of Russia, created by Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in September 2022 as a result of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

History 
The movement was founded at the end of September 2022. On September 26, the oath of the soldier "Atesh" was published on the official Telegram channel, and on September 29, a video appeal of one of the partisans was made public with an appeal to join the movement.

November 11, 2022: Partisans of the movement killed 30 Russian servicemen in hospitals in Simferopol.

December 11, 2022: "Atesh" took responsibility for setting fire to barracks with Russian soldiers in the village Sovietske.

January 31, 2023: Partisans claim they killed two Russian National Guard officers.

February 10, 2023: "Atesh" claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack that resulted in the deaths of two Russian soldiers and the hospitalisation of two others in occupied Nova Kakhovka.

March 14, 2023: Atesh claimed to have killed the deputy head of the military administration of Nova Kakhovka in a bomb attack.

April 23, 2023: Atesh claim to have blown up a Russian National Guard checkpoint near Oleshky resulting in multiple deaths.

April 27, 2023: Partisans claim they killed two occupiers in the village of Velyki Kopani.

May 6, 2023: Partisans claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt of Zakhar Prilepin, a Russian writer and member of the A Just Russia — For Truth Party, in which a car bomb exploded as he crossed the Russian border from occupied Donbas. The car's driver was killed and Prilepin was seriously wounded, but survived.

July 14, 2023: Partisans claimed responsibility for an ambush in Kherson that destroyed two Russian military trucks and killed 6 Russian military personnel.

July 17, 2023: The Guardian interviewed Mustafa Dzhemilev in Kyiv about Atesh. He reported that Atesh maintains an online class for Russian draftees to carry out acts of sabotage claiming that 4,000 Russian troops have enrolled. He also claims that upwards of 1,000 Tatars would be willing to take up arms against Russian forces in Crimea, if they were just given the arms to do so. Dzemilev also stated that he hopes that after the liberation of Crimea that there is an amendment to the Constitution of Ukraine to turn Crimea into an autonomous "National Republic" with the Tatars as its indigenous people with special status.

August 30, 2023: Atesh claimed responsibility for bombing a United Russia campaign office in Nova Kakhovka killing three Russian guards, and destroyed documents supporting the upcoming September 2023 regional elections.

September 25, 2023, Atesh claimed that they provided information used to plan Operation Crab Trap. They reportedly gained leaked information about the Black Sea Fleet by bribing Russian officers disgruntled by missed salary payments.

See also 
 Ukrainian resistance during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
 2022 protests in Russian-occupied Ukraine
 Popular Resistance of Ukraine
 Berdiansk Partisan Army

References

External links

Guerrilla organizations
Military units and formations of Ukraine in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Organizations established in 2022
Resistance during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Russian occupation of Ukraine
Social movements