Civil and military resistance against Putin in Ukraine

Russian strikes make life impossible

The Ukrainians are avoiding the collapse of the defensive lines that would have endangered the very survival of their independent nation. Ukraine’s impressive capacity for innovation in the mastery of drones has made it possible to compensate, in part, for lack of numbers and deficiencies in defensive weapons. But Kyiv knows that Putin is seeking to compensate for the losses of soldiers through a new and unpopular mass mobilization, combined with investments in technological adaptation.

Russian shelling in Ukraine is moving from the front to the rear and from the military to civilians. The strikes, day and night, make daily life unbearable, endanger workers and paralyze essential infrastructure. Ukrainian air defence is powerless to counter these criminal attacks, due to a lack of interceptors and anti-aircraft missiles.

Impressive civilian resilience

Yet, despite the suffering endured, an impressive civil resilience is expressed in a thousand initiatives of direct and indirect support for the military resistance, but also in civic demonstrations challenging certain government decisions, particularly in the fight against corruption or the defence of social rights, without anyone knowing when the nightmare will end.

It is in Ukraine, in this dual military and civil resistance, that the heart of the international anti-fascist front to be built beats today. It is coming up against an aberrant front bringing together far-right forces and left-wing “campist”, even pro-Putin forces, who are advocating “peace” while wanting to deprive Ukraine of the means to resist Russian fascism.

However, this Ukrainian resistance has been going on for months through the export of the war to Russia by air and, on the ground, through the multiplication of spectacular acts of sabotage and targeted assassinations of criminals in uniform. For Kyiv, it is a question of attacking Russia’s infrastructure and resources, particularly oil, to disorganize and weaken the overall offensive capacity of the Russian army. It is also a question of making the war difficult to bear for the Russian people, who are beginning to lose confidence in the regime. Despite the repression, more and more voices could be raised against the continuation of the war, a few days before parliamentary elections without legally recognized opposition.

10 September 2026

Translated by International Viewpoint from l’Anticapitaliste.