The 79th Mykolaiv Separate Air Assault Brigade is holding the front line near Kurakhove in Donbas. Russian forces are continuously attacking Ukrainian positions with dozens of vehicles, showing no regard for human life. Despite constant attempts by the enemy to storm Ukrainian positions, the brigade’s soldiers not only repel the attacks but also manage to capture Russian troops, Slidstvo.Info reports.
The video has English subtitles.
“WE RISKED OUR LIVES TO EVACUATE AN OCCUPIER TO RETURN OUR PRISONERS”
A paratrooper from the 79th Brigade, “Fran,” who has been serving since 2016, describes the current situation on the Kurakhove front: “The Russians are very active; they have a much larger human resource than we do. They constantly try to storm our positions. They have no more vehicles, so they storm with small infantry groups. We destroyed a lot of their equipment and infantry, but they achieved nothing. They try to overwhelm us with their numbers, but it doesn’t work out well for them,” he says, interrupted by explosions. “We have to go, let’s run to the basement!”
79th Brigade paratrooper “Fran”
The Russians use dozens of vehicles against the positions of the Ukrainian assault troops. Recently, the soldiers repelled the largest enemy assault since the war began, during which the invasion forces used 57 vehicles.
– “The big guns start working on this damn bridge.”
– “Dobryi, Dobryi, do you copy? Have you started moving?”
– “Yes, we’re going for a walk.”
– “Look, there will be a small bridge, you need to cross it very quickly, so wake up the prisoner so he’s ready, because it could end badly. Copy that?”
– “Roger that.”
A soldier with the call sign “Dobryi” and his brothers-in-arms, along with a captured Russian, reached their position.
“Dobryi”
“We received an order from the command post to move to another position and take the prisoner. The prisoner was wounded in the leg when we arrived. When we led him away, we kept asking if he was okay. So that he could cross this distance more easily. Although, I think they wouldn’t do the same for our brothers-in-arms… I even brought the rifle of our brother, he is no longer with us, he is in heaven… How can we restrain ourselves when this is happening, when you see how they (the Russians – ed.) live, and our children die, and it’s unclear when this will end,” says Dobryi.
An infantryman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Bohdan, says they risked their lives to evacuate the occupier under fire: “We were shot at along the way, a shell landed about 20 meters away, but we were lucky. We risked our lives when we led him out. We did it to return our prisoners.”
Bohdan
Bohdan is 21 years old. He volunteered to go to war a year ago under a contract. Despite his young age, he has been through Lyman, Klishchiyivka, and was near Kursk Oblast. And now he is here, on the Kurakhove front.
“I WOULD RATHER HAVE STAYED. I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THIS TRAP”
A Russian named Aleksandr agreed to speak with our journalist and said he surrendered because he was very thirsty.
Russian prisoner of war Aleksandr
“I came because I wanted water. I wanted water, and I heard someone talking in the neighboring building. I approached. I came up to them myself. ‘Who’s there?’ I got scared and ran away a little. I thought they would shoot me right away: ‘Hands up,’ I raised my hands. They searched me, didn’t bother me, and gave me water and led me away,” says the occupier.
A paratrooper from the 79th brigade with the call sign “Fran” smokes another cigarette and recounts how they came across the prisoner.
“Fran”
“Yesterday, he came by himself. They (the Russians – ed.) drove up on a BMP (infantry fighting vehicle – ed.) and unloaded near our position. Of course, we destroyed them, but not all. Three remained, we first blew up half of the garage, and half remained. And they sat there for 4 days without water or food, and one decided to go look for something. He went out, and there were our guys. They asked if there were more. He said there were… In the last few weeks, we captured 5-6 occupiers,” says a paratrooper from the 79th brigade with the call sign “Fran.”
“I am wounded, see, a stick is sticking out (points to his leg – ed.). They sent me on the assault. I told my comrades on the radio to come get me. And they said: ‘We can’t come, we won’t pick you up.’ They left me there: ‘die, crawl yourself, whatever you want.’ Then I was stunned, concussed. I came out as I was. I surrendered. That’s all,” says the prisoner.
Russian prisoner of war
The occupier says he has a criminal record, so he was forced to fight.
“They forced me to fight (in Russia – ed.)… or they would put me in jail. And I have a sentence. They said: ‘Either 7 years here or sign this (agreement – ed.).’ And they dragged me from the police to the military commissariat, forced me to sign up, and sent me here (to Ukraine – ed.). I thought I would escape. They would release me and I would escape, but it didn’t work out. If you even try to retreat, they will still shoot you… In total, I’ve been in Ukraine for about a year, and here (on the Kurakhove front – ed.) since July,” says the Russian prisoner.
The captured Russian soldier said that he and his colleagues were brought in on an IFV: “We are just meat, they took me out on a BMP, threw me out like a rat, and escaped. And we were met… And that’s it — the mortar did its job. So that’s how it is… I then sat in the basement for another two days. One [shell] fell nearby, and I was covered in shrapnel, and I sat in a pit for 4 more days… I want to say, ‘Don’t sign any contracts’. Everything they show on TV is a lie, that ‘it will be good’. It’s a deception, that’s how it is.”
– “You came on a BMP, six of you came, right?”
– “Yes, yes. On the second.”
– “And what about the rest?”
– “The rest ran away. And two more — “200” (killed in action – ed.). Two ran away in an unknown direction, hid somewhere.”
“They didn’t hide. Everything is fine. They joined those two, now there are 4 [KIAs]. You were the only lucky one from this group! If they show you on TV, tell your lot to surrender. You’ll go home if you can’t escape. But it’s better not to go at all”.
– “I regretted it 100 times. I would rather have stayed. I didn’t know about this trap. I would rather have stayed”.
– “Do you want tea?”
– (Aleksandr nods affirmatively).
– “And here are some cookies. Have some coffee, cappuccino, then we’ll go dancing (laughs).”
– “Maybe you’ll get some grub yourselves? You’re just taking care of him.”
“IF THERE WERE NO DRONE SURVEILLANCE, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY DIFFICULT”
In the drone video, a completely destroyed settlement is shown. This is Katerynivka. There is a lot of destroyed equipment and shell craters.
Fran counts the destroyed enemy equipment.
– “1, 2, 3, 4, etc.”
– “And when was this destroyed?”
– “The last one was a couple of days ago, there’s one somewhere here. And the rest was already standing, and more are still standing in the fields.”
The soldier says that the enemy is trying to enter Katerynivka: “They are trying to enter Katerynivka, and not even the outskirts. They try to go deep. They enter and take up a circular defense. I don’t understand their tactics.”
The defender says that he and his brothers-in-arms try to enter so as not to reveal their location, but not everyone can run fast because there are older men in the brigade.
“We try to enter so as not to be spotted, to enter quickly. Not everyone is young, they move slower. When a man is 50 years old, he can’t run like a 20-year-old, so they enter slower. The first ones who carried provisions entered quickly, everything was sharp with them,” says Fran.
A paratrooper with the call sign “Yanis” says that thanks to drones, they are successfully repelling enemy attacks: “They (the Russians – ed.) try to make some breakthroughs, send their assault groups, but we control everything well with our guys, so we repel each of their attacks. If there were no drone surveillance, it would have been very difficult.”
“Yanis”
“Russian soldiers, when they saw the position, tried to send small groups to it,” says Yanis. “There was even a case when they didn’t carry weapons with them, they carried backpacks loaded with explosives. Their task was to deliver, throw, and leave. Thanks to our ‘birds,’ from which the guys observe, all this was destroyed in time.”
“79TH BRIGADE PREVENTS THE ENEMY FROM ADVANCING”
Artilleryman Viktor laughs and says that mainly it is the 79th Brigade that does not allow the enemy to advance. But there are so many Russians that it is difficult: “You see now, from all the cracks, snakes have crawled out. We need motivated people in the artillery. At least ones that won’t interfere. We don’t have enough.”
Viktor
“Few young people come, everyone is afraid,” adds Fran. “There are two of my age, young. They went around the whole of Katerynivka, completed so many tasks, they are like magic wands. And someone says ‘I can’t, my legs gave out.’ Well, what can you do about him? Well, sit then, that’s all.”
Bohdan confirms that the army needs young people, then they would hold the front better: “There is anxiety, but you need to look accurately so that the enemy does not slip through and does not break through our positions, if you hold, then there are not enough people… If more people aged 18 to 25 came, I think the front would be held more firmly.”
“We need people and certain planning, because it’s easy, but it’s hard not to know for how many days we will be there. It’s mentally taxing. But otherwise, as in nature, seeing a bird, pheasants, it’s nice (laughs),” adds Dobryi.
