/ world today news/ Military correspondent Alexander Kots from the front line denied the lies of the Ukrainian media about the loss of settlements in Zaporozhye by Russian forces
COLLEAGUES ON SANCTIONS
– But we are colleagues in a certain sense – I am talking to the fighters of the Khabarovsk motorized rifle brigade.
– In what sense? – they are interested.
– Like you, I was accused by the Ukrainian media of what happened a year ago in the Kyiv region.
I show an old clipping from a newspaper, in which it is written in black and white: “… participated together with the “Heroes of Gostomel” sung by him.” The fighters – residents of the Khabarovsk region, were accused of what happened in Bucha. A unique case for a Russian unit. Almost the entire composition of the brigade (in the West they found lists only for 2018, but they decided that it will happen anyway) came under the EU sanctions by name.
Of course, no one bothered with evidence. For example, I was in the vicinity of this city in March 2022. And I did not see anyone there except paratroopers.
“But we weren’t there at all,” one of the officers clarified the situation. – We did not perform any tasks in this city – it was not our area of responsibility. We just smacked them hard in the teeth, just in a different place, so they got offended. They invented it.
PENDING ARRIVAL
With this brigade, we were always somewhere nearby – now near Kyiv, now near Izyum. But by chance we met in the homeland of Nestor Makhno, near the city of Gulyaipole, which during the Civil War was the center of the Makhnov region. The direction is strategic. From here opens the road to Pologi, along which I drive to the front line of the traditional “Buhanka” /lit. “samun”, UAZ van/ – this car turned out to be extremely unpretentious and incredibly passable in SVO.
The names of the settlements pass by the window – Novoselovka, Stepanovka, Marfopol … Somewhere I have already heard these names, but in reverse order. Exactly! The other day, Ukrainian telegram channels reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had successfully moved forward 50 kilometers from Gulyaipole deep into our territory, taking control of these very settlements.
Except I don’t see a Bradley, no Leopards, no armor crosses. Only village houses smashed by Ukrainian artillery, tulips glowing in colorful colors in front of them and the invisible presence of the Russian army,
Of course, the armed forces of Ukraine did not break through from Gulyaipol. Here, the line of contact has been frozen since last year and only positional strikes are systematically made. In recent weeks, the enemy has become more active and probes our defensive formations literally every day.
It is more difficult to go to Pologi, unlike Tokmak – through the settlements, in which there are practically no civilians left, but there is something to hide behind. It is not in the field to defend yourself in trenches. On the other hand, it is possible to develop an offensive from Pologi not only in the Zaporozhye region, but also towards the DPR, if Zelensky’s adventurism suddenly wins and he decides to attack Mariupol.
THREE KILOMETERS TO ANARCHY
The movement to the positions – traditionally takes place in the morning, under the cover of the thick fog that has descended on the forest plantations. I note that the ground here seems drier than in the Lugansk region, but it is still wet. However, both wheeled and tracked vehicles can now pass here. My companion, the company commander, is limping, leaning on a stick. Near Izyum he was wounded by a fragment of a tank shell, half of his seat torn off, several months of recovery and escape from the hospital back to the front line.
The enemy, of course, has more advantageous positions here – on the hill. In good weather, we could be groped here like on a shooting range. You walk along the path, and all around you are craters from landed mines, everything is shot up to a meter. Our trenches literally cut like a wedge into the gray zone, beyond which the dachas of Gulyai-Pole are already visible. And to the city itself, which gave the world, in addition to the anarchist Makhno, and the screenwriter of the film “Weddings in Malinovka”, the playwright Leonid Yukhvid, is only three kilometers away.
We are being shelled by mortars, tanks and cannons. They click, but we also work on them, – the platoon leader meets us in well-built trenches. – Sometimes they try to break through on the flanks. Here, the other day, two infantry fighting vehicles, with the support of a tank and a group of infantrymen, groped us. We destroyed them. Well, in our direction they are also trying to remove the trap mines. This is a direct sign that they will soon be on the offensive. But we are ready for it.
WITH A “BOOT” AT THE ENEMY
If you don’t know that the enemy is 800 meters behind the nearest field, then it is impossible to know that you are on the front line until a tank starts firing from the other side – they differ in that the sound of the shot arrives before the rupture of the projectile.
In general, life on the first line is not much different from the so-called second line. The platoon commander conducts a “support tour. Trenches, tall human figures, resting dugouts, feeding dugouts, two dogs that instead of cats catch the cheeky field mice.
“I see movement, up to seven people,” the radio wheezed.
– Prepare the “boot”, – replies the platoon commander.
Two people pull out an anti-tank grenade launcher from a pile of twigs, which here is used quite successfully by both sides against manpower. They drag him through a narrow belt of forest to the edge of the field and prepare him for shooting.
– Cannon! – commanded the platoon.
A shot, and after a few seconds a second. After him comes another, and another.
– We retreat – the traditional command when there is no desire to wait for return fire. – There, these seven people dug in closer to our positions, from this flank they are trying to remove our minefields. In three or four minutes the “answer” will fly in.
BREAKTHROUGH ATTEMPT
We go down to the dining room, pour tea, take out cookies from the special anti-mouse containers.
“It’s begun,” declared the one with the sharpest hearing.
A few seconds later, somewhere at the end of the forest strip, a muffled explosion is heard. On the radio they order everyone to hide in shelters.
– Mini, 82 mm, – they recognize the enemy ammunition in the dugout by sound. – They usually roll six pieces.
And just after six shots the front line fell silent again. By the time the fog clears, it’s time to prepare for the return journey. Already in the rear area, I learn that the VSU at the neighbors from the Orehovo direction have tried to break through. The enemy attacked with a force of up to 20 people with the support of five infantry fighting vehicles and one tank, but losing all the equipment, he retreated. And the armed forces of Ukraine carry out such “sorties” every day, choosing a different direction of the strike. Judging by the fact that Kiev has also moved to methodical attacks on our infrastructure in the rear, the counteroffensive is getting closer.
Translation: EU
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