The Grayzone obtained documents revealing how British military-intelligence figures are organizing a covert Ukrainian “partisan” army, which came with explicit instructions detailing the means of executing attacks against Russian targets in Crimea.

A Ukrainian drone attack on October 28 impaired the Russian Black Sea fleet’s flagship vessel; Russia immediately pointed its finger at Britain for its support and coordination of the strike. Most recently, Russia called for an investigation into Liz Truss’ text message to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after the explosions that impacted Nord Stream, where Truss texted the US official: “It’s done.”

According to The Grayzone, leaked documents expose the involvement of British military intelligence operatives in the signing of an agreement with the Ukrainian Security Service's Odessa branch to create and train a secret Ukrainian partisan terror army. The plans in question included a call on the secret army to conduct sabotage and reconnaissance operations targeting Crimea on behalf of the Ukrainian Security Service. 

The orchestrator 

Hugh Ward, a military veteran, at the request of Chris Donnelly, a British military intelligence operative who has been involved in covert warfare programs and operations, produced the blueprints required to blow up the Crimea Bridge on October 8. 

The plans were conducted through high-level military officials, lawmakers, and intelligence officials – a transnational network through which Donnelly circulated the plan. 

Donnelly used his contacts to secure the necessary resources to train the secret battalion to sabotage Russian targets in Crimea. 

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Any move that acts toward negotiation or reconciliation would be impeded with such training from London by cooking up an aggressive squad made to continually attack Russia and incite escalation and aggression in the war.

According to the documents, the plan to blow up the Crimea Bridge has a number of strategic objectives: to “support for maritime raiding operations,” “degrade” Russia’s ability to blockade Kiev, “erode” Moscow’s “warfighting capability,” and isolate Russian land and maritime forces in Crimea by “denying resupply by sea and overland via Kerch.”

The documents obtained by The Grayzone depict that the plans were conducted in close coordination with the Ukrainian Security Service, Odessa branch. In addition, a Ukrainian oligarch, influential in Ukrainian politics, funded the operation.

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The Grayzone last month also got its hands on private memos exchanged between Donnelly himself and the Biden administration, expressing worry that the latter was not wholly committed to an all-out war with Russia, affirming Donnelly as a war hawk by character. Upon bringing up potential negotiations which may take place between Moscow and Kiev, he declared in a communique that “this US position must be challenged, firmly and at once.”

The Grayzone wrote that “while The Grayzone cannot verify that the Ukrainian attacks on Crimea are the direct handiwork of Donnelly’s team, recent events closely mirror the strategies and tactics outlined in the documents this outlet has obtained. What’s more, the attacks have helped achieve the escalatory objectives pursued by both Donnelly and the British government, which successfully scuttled negotiations between Kiev and Moscow this April.”

Ukrainian “partisans” trained to “shoot, move, communicate, survive."

Prevail Partners, a British military company, has been contracted to recruit and train the secret Ukrainian battalion. It’s interesting to note that the company was founded by British special forces veterans, including Justin Hedges, who was a former Royal Marine Bragider and Special Boat Service commander. 

The program at hand is the outcome of Donnelly’s lobbying conducted over a course of many months. Along with Donnelly were an MI6 veteran, Guy Spindler, and Audrius Butkevicius, a former Lithuanian Defense Minister who has close ties with the Ukrainian military, security, and intelligence. 

Upon learning that Prevail’s team was launching a secret army, Ukrainian officials were reluctant to uphold the project. British officials were also hesitant about giving training services to private contractors out of fear that they might get caught. 

Prevail’s offering was an annual $600,000 per partisan fighter – an indication the company was “in a sellers market,” according to Alex Finnen, a member of the British Army’s Specialist Group Military Intelligence spy cell.

With this being said, an agreement was reached on April 18 between Prevail and Thomas in Winslow, a “London-based crisis management company.” According to the contract, Prevail would conduct a “capacity assessment” of the Odessa-SSU’s operations, “then of other major regional SSUs and finally of the Security Services of all Ukraine,” free of charge.

Then comes a document issued in May which exposes Prevail Partners’ role as a private contractor that “specializes in providing training and advisory services,” in addition to having involvement in Odessa’s military grounds and the 24th Brigade of the Ukrainian Army. 

Overworking 36 hours at a base in Yavoriv, Justin Hedges observed what he called an “inadequate” 12-day training provided to conscripts, which were reportedly aged between 20 and 58. None had military experience, and they were going to be sent to Popasna, “where the Russians are currently breaking through [Ukrainian] lines.”

Hedges criticized that there was a “very low number of instructors; no set syllabus and doctrine; no in-unit experience; no planning training” on the course, with “unsound tactics being taught by inexperienced foreign trainers,” leaving the battalion “not prepared for what they face.”

He argued that many of the militants “know that when they deploy to the frontline… it will be carnage,” knowing that a previous battalion that received the same 12-day training “suffered 60 killed within the first 3 days.” 

“[This leads] to arguably unsustainable casualty rates. In my view, unsustainable from human capital and therefore political perspective over the long-term,” Hedges complained.

“This problem cannot be left unaddressed any longer; the training gap must be closed now. Otherwise, unsustainable casualty rates, owing to [the] inadequacy of training, may become politically decisive by forcing Zelensky to concede ground to Putin.”

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