Even as he commanded troops in a fierce, weeklong battle to seize one Russian place, Col. Viktor Sikoza acquired disturbing news: The Russians had been utilizing this time to construct yet one more fortification behind it.
“They are still building their defenses,” Colonel Sikoza mentioned. “They carry on doing it” at the same time as Ukraine is urgent ahead, nonetheless slowly, in a high-stakes counteroffensive within the nation’s south.
The troops of Colonel Sikoza, the commander of thirty sixth Marine Brigade, have been the tip of the spear in Ukraine’s push and have superior about 5 miles right into a bulge into Russian strains in southern Ukraine.
Colonel Sikoza is only one commander, however his account matches Ukrainian experiences of closely entrenched Russian positions. Over the previous week, Colonel Sikoza oversaw an assault on a forest that was partly surrounded by swampy, low-lying terrain. Russian forces had dug in and mined the one floor round that was agency sufficient to assist armored autos. The assault, he mentioned, needed to happen on foot.
Infantry filtered into the forest and fought at shut vary, he mentioned. “We are marines — we are aggressive,” he mentioned. An organization of Russian troopers, about 80 males, had been dug into trenches within the timber, he mentioned. Colonel Sikoza described how a decisive flip got here when his troops captured two bunkers and a trench line on the sting of the forest, partly reducing off the Russians means to resupply the group and forcing them to retreat.
His troopers are extremely motivated to seize positions, and with them Russian prisoners: In the primary month of the warfare, the thirty sixth Marine Brigade was surrounded within the metropolis of Mariupol and greater than 1,000 marines had been taken prisoner by the Russians. “We want to trade them for our guys,” Colonel Sikoza mentioned of Russian captives.
Colonel Sikoza’s advance to the south can be a private odyssey. He escaped from the Crimean Peninsula when Russia occupied it in 2014. If the counteroffensive is profitable, it might put Ukrainian artillery inside vary to threaten the isthmus to the peninsula, reducing Russian provide strains.
But it has been painfully gradual. President Volodymyr Zelensky has conceded that the counteroffensive isn’t going as quickly as some allies had hoped, and American officers have mentioned Ukraine is shedding Western-provided armored autos within the minefields.
“For more than a year, the enemy fortified here,” Colonel Sikoza mentioned in an interview at a picnic desk within the shade of a walnut tree within the yard of his command publish close to the entrance. Every minute or so, the booms of outgoing and incoming artillery rang out.
Of the Ukrainian effort to advance, he acknowledged: “It will not go according to the pace we counted on.”
Ahead of the Ukrainian bulge on this spot, the Russians have accomplished a 3rd line of defenses, Colonel Sikoza mentioned. They have laid further concrete tank limitations of a kind the Ukrainians name dragon’s enamel. And they’ve deployed further troops.
There is little he can do about it, he mentioned. “Unfortunately, we do not have enough precision weaponry to hit targets at long range” behind the Russian entrance strains. The further defenses, he mentioned, will gradual Ukraine additional.
Still, Colonel Sikoza’s troops have scored some successes.
One soldier, who requested to be recognized solely by his rank and first identify for safety causes, Lt Yevhen, mentioned he had shot down a Russian assault helicopter utilizing a Javelin anti-tank guided missile, a uncommon feat with a weapon largely meant to hit targets on the bottom.
And although the brigade operates largely Soviet-legacy artillery programs, it was capable of hit a Russian barracks far behind the entrance line, Ukrainian officers mentioned. A gaggle of Russian troopers had posted a video on social media complaining of poor dwelling situations and what they mentioned had been unreasonable orders from commanders.
Lt. Denys Ryabynko, who instructions a unit of Grad rocket artillery, was much less within the grievance than within the distinctive brick constructing within the background. The Ukrainians had been capable of determine it in a village behind Russian strains and hit it with a barrage of rockets, he mentioned.
Yurii Shyvala contributed reporting.
Source: www.nytimes.com