Soldier and partisan Artem Karyakin, who goes by the call sign “Skhidny”, told Online.ua his story of fighting for Ukraine's independence in the Russian-occupied territories.
The movement of resistance to Russia in the occupied territories of Ukraine is gaining momentum
According to Artem Karyakin, the powerful partisan resistance in the regions of Ukraine occupied by Russia has not disappeared, on the contrary, it is intensifying.
Our citizens continue to personally eliminate not only Russians, but also collaborators.
Therefore, there will be even more powerful explosions, as happened from the car of collaborator Valery Chaika in Starobilsk, Luhansk region.
We have enough people who are ready to go for it. And there will only be more of them. In principle, there are no rules in this war. And there have been no clear rules either from our side or from their side for a long time. It is necessary to understand that the Russians are committing despicable acts and using the most terrible methods to act against us. And they themselves erase the rules.
Artem "Skhidny" Karyakin
Military serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and partisan
As Artem Karyakin notes, he knows about hundreds of informers in the occupied Luhansk region who help Ukrainian forces, give them intelligence, risking their lives.
If we talk about all the regions under the control of the enemy, then these are thousands of citizens.
During the last two years alone, the serviceman of the Armed Forces received important information from more than 300 people.
What was the partisan path of Artem Karyakin
The history of Skhidny began back in 2014, when Russian troops began an invasion of Ukraine.
All this time, until the full-scale war, he had to overcome his fear in order to resist the invaders.
That is, fear, it was not going anywhere. I was seen sticking pro-Ukrainian stickers. Back in 2012-2013, for example, I was sticking stickers about Stakhanov and Stepan Bandera. And there were people who knew who was putting them up in the city. So, of course, I was afraid that sooner or later they would want to test me somehow. I knew that I would confess to everything under torture. That is, when a person says to my face: ‘We know that you are a Ukrainian prisoner and we don't need you yet, but if we did, we would have killed you already,’ Artem Karyakin recalls.
For many years, the Ukrainian partisan lived with the knowledge that he could be killed at any moment, but he still did not give up.
His life changed dramatically when his mother, father, and grandmother died in 2020 and 2021, so he decided to leave the occupied Luhansk region to continue fighting the Russians in the territory controlled by Ukraine.
We receive threats all the time, and they are diverse. They can be just threatening messages, or they can be videos of our prisoners being beaten and tortured there. And when I admitted that I was simply involved in the attack on the FSB office in Stakhanov, I basically signed a one-way ticket. That is, this is a thing that will not go away... Because, one way or another, I would have taken responsibility for at least the attack on the Wagner PMC at the Pobeda stadium in Stakhanov in ‘22 and the FSB headquarters.
Artem "Skhidny" Karyakin
Military serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and partisan
