Wide range of pro-Ukrainian groups operate in the shadows of the war

KYIV, Ukraine — New intelligence reviewed by US officials has moved a step closer to solving the mystery of who blew up the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines last year. But the intelligence, which suggests that the perpetrators were members of a pro-Ukrainian group, is extremely vague.

The US officials underscored that there was much they did not know about those responsible for the blasts and their affiliations.

A number of groups claiming to support Ukraine have sought involvement in the war, although their activities and claims cannot always be independently verified.

The intelligence suggests that the saboteurs were opponents of President Vladimir Putin of Russia but had no known government affiliations, a description that only slightly narrows the range of suspects.

A wide range of pro-Ukrainian groups operate in a murky world with unclear ties to the intelligence or security agencies of Ukraine or other nations.

They include groups fighting in southeastern Ukraine or carrying out sabotage operations in Russia and its ally Belarus. Here is a look at the activities of some of them, although there is no evidence that any were involved in the pipeline attack.

Russian Volunteer Corps

A Russian partisan group with ties to the Ukrainian military, this group claimed on March 2 to have conducted a cross-border raid from Ukraine into Russia’s Bryansk region to take control of a small village for several hours, before backtracking into Ukraine. The group’s leader is a Russian nationalist in exile who opposes Mr Putin’s rule and has said he wants to inspire armed resistance inside Russia. It is unclear whether the group, which does not appear to have any significant support inside Russia, operates with the assent of Ukrainian authorities.

Bypol

Bypol, an organisation of Belarusian activists opposed to the government of pro-Russian President Alexander Lukashenko, claimed in February to have flown a drone rigged with explosives into Belarus, damaging a sophisticated Russian airborne early warning aircraft parked on the runway of an air base. Satellite images of the plane suggested damage to the plane’s radar antenna after the strike. Bypol later released aerial videos that it claimed corroborated its role in the attack. Mr Lukashenko blames Ukraine’s intelligence services; Ukraine has denied involvement.

Bratstvo

This Ukrainian political party, whose name means Brotherhood, has members fighting in eastern Ukraine, including in special operations. The party has described itself as a “revolutionary Christian community.” The leader, Mr Dmytro Korchynsky, has called the group a “philosophical circle” in addition to a battalion of soldiers. In the war, soldiers in this and other paramilitary groups operate under the command of the Ukrainian military. Four members of Bratstvo were killed during a raid inside Russian territory late last year.

Honor

This group that began as a youth movement is led by Mr Serhii Filimonov, a former member of the Azov organisation, a paramilitary group that has fought in the war in eastern Ukraine and was later incorporated into the Ukrainian national guard. Honor has remained apart from the formal military command but, like Bratstvo, has members fighting in the war in southeastern Ukraine.

Tradition and Order

This group and an affiliated organisation, Revenge, were best known for violent political actions inside Ukraine before some of its members joined the fight against Russia’s invasion last year. In 2015, members of the group were arrested in connection with arson attacks on stores belonging to the confectionary business of former President Petro Poroshenko. Some of its members also stormed Ukraine’s parliament building after the country’s 2014 revolution and set fire to the office of a now-banned communist party. Members are also now fighting in the war. THE NEW YORK TIMES