Ukraine Crisis | Government urges citizens to use guerilla tactics
Published:Thursday | March 3, 2022 | 9:47 AM
LVIV, Ukraine — As Russian forces advance on strategic points in southern Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities on Thursday called for compatriots to launch a guerrilla war against Russian forces.
In a video message posted online, Ukrainian presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovich urged men to cut down trees and destroy rear columns of Russian troops.
“We urge people to begin providing total popular resistance to the enemy in the occupied territories,” Arestovich said.
“The weak side of the Russian army is the rear - if we burn them now and block the rear, the war will stop in a matter of days,” he said.
Arestovich said that such tactics are already being used in Konotop in northeast Ukraine and Melitopol near the Azov Sea, which were captured by Russian troops.
He called on the civilian population to build barricades in cities, hold rallies with Ukrainian flags, and create online networking groups.
“Total resistance ... this is our Ukrainian trump card and this is what we can do best in the world,” Arestovich said, recalling guerrilla actions in Nazi-occupied Ukraine during World War II.
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