Ukrainian officials have claimed responsibility for a car bomb that killed a Russian-backed politician on Wednesday, stating that it was an act of retribution.
The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense posted on Telegram, declaring that "traitors to Ukraine and collaborators with terrorist Russia in temporarily occupied territories... will receive just retribution! The hunt continues!" Andriy Cherniak, representative of Ukraine's Military Intelligence Directorate, confirmed to Politico that "it was our operation."
According to the Telegram post, members of the resistance in the occupied territory assisted in carrying out the assassination of Mikhail Filiponenko, a member of the Luhansk legislature.
Filiponenko had previously survived a car bombing just days before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He had formerly led Moscow-backed separatist troops in Luhansk and represented the group in the cease-fire monitoring center in the region before the Russian invasion, as reported by Radio Free Europe.
The directorate accused Filiponenko of organizing and participating in the torture of prisoners of war and civilians, referring to him as "the executioner."
Rebekah Koffler, president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting and a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, explained to Fox News Digital that Ukraine has turned to "targeted killings" due to the failure of their counteroffensive this year. Koffler described this strategy as an irregular form of warfare used by modern militaries when conventional approaches fail to produce a clear military victory. She stated that it involves planned assassinations by a state's special forces to gradually degrade, demoralize, and deter the adversary.
While this new strategy is unlikely to achieve Ukraine's ultimate goal of driving the Russian military out of occupied territories, Koffler believes it will lead to a low-intensity, protracted phase, eventually turning the conflict into a "frozen" one.
The Moscow Times reported that several "high-profile backers" of Russia's invasion have been targeted since February 2022, but Ukraine has rarely claimed direct involvement in these attacks.
However, the shift from an outright offensive against Russia to targeted assassinations has raised concerns among some insiders, who view it as an unfocused approach. A source from Ukraine's domestic security service, known as SBU, told The Economist that the approach made them "uncomfortable" as some of the targets hit are "marginal figures."
A former SBU fifth-directorate officer suggested that the assassinations are sometimes aimed at impressing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stating, "Clowns, prostitutes, and jokers are a constant around the Russian government. Kill one of them and another will appear in their place."
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