In a significant development amidst the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the Ukrainian partisan movement, known as Atesh, operating in the occupied south of the country, has reported mass desertions by Russian forces in the Kherson region. Atesh, meaning "fire" in Crimean Tartar, has been actively gathering information on local Russian operations, organizing local resistance, and providing intelligence to Ukrainian military forces since the full-scale invasion by Russia in February 2022.

According to a statement released on Atesh's Telegram channel on Thursday, the group claimed that Russian soldiers are disappearing en masse in the Kherson region. However, Newsweek cannot independently verify the report and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

The Ukrainian partisan group went on to claim that, according to official reports received by the Russian Armed Forces group 'Dnepr,' the soldiers are refusing to carry out combat missions and willingly leaving their places of temporary deployment. Atesh used the pejorative term 'orcs,' commonly used by Ukrainians to refer to Russian soldiers, to describe them.

In addition, Atesh noted that some of the soldiers who were officially identified as deserters, using the Russian acronym SOCH, were later found within the occupied territory. The group also reported the arrival of a large number of personnel from the occupation army in Novooleksiivka, a rural settlement close to the Isthmus of Perekop, which separates the Crimean Peninsula from the mainland.

According to Atesh, these soldiers have been staying in vacant abandoned houses, and many of them bear multiple tattoos. The local population speculates that these individuals might have a history of incarceration.

The Ukrainian partisan movement also revealed that the Russian military is intensifying efforts to apprehend Ukrainian partisans who provide information to the military forces on the Ukrainian side of the contact line, demarcated by the Dnieper River. Atesh claimed that the Russian Guard has been instructed to catch these partisans who disclose the locations of Russian occupation forces' personnel.

Despite the little movement on the front in the southern Kherson region since Ukraine's major victory in 2022, Ukrainian units have managed to establish persistent bridgeheads on the Russian-held east bank of the Dnieper. These footholds could potentially aid future offensives towards Crimea, as Russian forces have been unable to dislodge them.

The situation in southern Ukraine remains highly volatile, with the Ukrainian partisan movement reporting mass desertions by Russian soldiers and intensifying efforts by the Russian military to suppress Ukrainian resistance. As the conflict continues to unfold, the fate of the region hangs in the balance, with both sides vying for control.