NOS
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NOS News•today, 18:00
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Wessel de Jong
reporter Economy
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Wessel de Jong
reporter Economy
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Two low-flying Ukrainian fighter jets and army ambulances meet us as we head east on our way to a meeting point. We take a look at the armored howitzers delivered to Ukraine by the Netherlands and Germany – a journey full of obstacles.
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We bump endlessly after old green trucks with supplies and fuel. They are going in the same direction as us. Plumes of smoke are visible in the distance. The front is not far away. Many buildings show war damage. But that dates back to the 2014 fighting, when the battle for the Donbas began.
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Then come the fresh craters. Somewhere in the Donbas is the meeting point, a dusty intersection in an almost deserted village. An elderly soldier approaches us. “Homage to the heroes”, is written on his uniform at the place where Dutch soldiers normally wear a name plate. Soldiers only give first names here, commanders only code names.
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The press officer hands our driver a small piece of paper with GPS coordinates. That is the point where we will meet the commander of an artillery unit fighting the Dutch and German armored howitzers.
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In the video you can see how we get to our destination, slaloming past barricades and burning wrecks:
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Armored howitzers hiding near the front
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Bringing about this meeting took some effort. The Dutch Ministry of Defense could not help. “There is no track-and-trace on the howitzers. We gave them to Ukraine, they are not coming back. That’s why we don’t follow them. It is also extremely sensitive information,” says a defense spokesperson. But our local fixer manages to get the Ukrainian army to see the guns.
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‘Don’t mention a location anywhere’
Just after we have passed a brightly burning off-road vehicle, we turn into a forest road. There we meet Commander Delta. We drive on for a few more kilometers, over forest paths and roads lined with boarded-up farmhouses. A single villager stares after us suspiciously. And then suddenly, on a narrow, overgrown forest path, we see one of the eighteen armored howitzers that the Netherlands and Germany have supplied.
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We don’t stop there. Our visit could potentially reveal the location of the heavy weapons. “Do not name a location anywhere”, is the order of the Ukrainian army. “The Russians don’t know where they are. If they get a clue, they look for them mercilessly.”
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The press officer kindly asks to put our phones on airplane mode. He is also extremely relaxed. No strict requirements, as is often the case in armies. Helmets on and shard vests on? We should know that ourselves.
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Blazing hot and jet black
We eventually drive into a garage of an abandoned farm. And we have to stay inside that too, out of sight of possible Russian drones scouring the battlefield.
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There is such an immense howitzer, including crew. He just drove in, because the exhaust grilles are scalding hot and jet black with soot.
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Ukrainian soldiers work on a former German howitzer –
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The weapons are already operational and are therefore being used in the fight against Russia –
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We are not getting any details about the operation. We are not allowed to interview the commander – neat beard, friendly smile – even if he speaks English.
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We can speak to the soldiers. They climb up and down the armor and hang in the engine. First-class soldier Mikolaj, who has been in the army since 2015, cleans the air filters. He says that the gun has been in operation for a month and that he was trained in Germany. Whether it is effective? “Our infantry is satisfied.” And he’s scared, because Mikolaj also knows that the Russians are hunting these advanced guns. He prefers not to say anything about his family situation. Meanwhile, the drones of the other howitzers resound in the area.
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What’s your next assignment, I ask. “The victory,” he replies with indignation in his look. And no, those eighteen howitzers are not enough to make a difference on the battlefield.
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‘Ukraine too weak for attack, Russia not strong enough’
This is also confirmed by Oleg Zhdanov, former member of the Ukrainian General Staff. “On a thousand kilometers of front, 260 pieces of modern western guns are too few, far too few.” But the weapons are effective, according to him.
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“Except in the Donbas, we have broken the offensive power of the Russian army everywhere. It has now become a war of positions. We are too weak to attack and the Russians not strong enough to attack.”
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Zhdanov’s greatest concern is the rate at which the new weapons are being delivered from the West. “The Russians are now recovering and resupplying. But they can’t get a breather. Everything depends on how quickly we get extra weapons. It’s a race against time now. Whoever wins wins this war.”
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