Voenkor “Komsomolskaya Pravda” celebrated Defender of the Fatherland Day with fighters on the front line
Photo: Alexander KOTS
“WHAT IS THIS GOING ALONG THE RIDE? LET’S GO GRAYS THERE!”
– Happy holiday, comrade officers! – I crawled on February 23 into the underground control room of one of the Russian formations.
A dozen uniformed men stare at various giant screens. From the side, one might think that this is an organized display of a festive concert or congratulations from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. But on the monitors – no shiny tinsel, no bravura fanfare, no pop stars. Defender of the Fatherland Day in the NVO zone is not a reason to part with combat work. The screens show an image of drones that, bypassing the electronic suppression of the enemy, transmit the image from the other side in real time.
– What about the clearing? Point, – orders the officer.
A man with a joystick, like the one on a game console, approaches an armored vehicle. This is an enemy armored personnel carrier. He drives into the woods, thinking that he is turning invisible to our drones. But from the checkpoint it is clearly seen how two people get out of the “box”, meet a third and, keeping their distance, walk together somewhere in the snow. The drone guides them for 10 minutes until they “lead” our operator to a hidden fortress dug out of a bush and carefully camouflaged. Looks like one of the bosses came to inspect.
– Let’s go to “Gradami” there.
– Consumption?
– From two to five.
This means that first five rockets are fired at the enemy position. After adjustment, five more. Ten more followed, engulfing the opornik in black smoke, after which no movement was noted in the forest. The armored personnel carrier managed to go somewhere, but the operators found a new target – an artillery gun similar to the American M777 howitzer. This time, the communications from the control center are directed to the operators of the Lancet loitering munitions, who are only a few kilometers away. Minutes later, the control room already has images of the defeat, filmed by a kamikaze drone.
Photo: Alexander KOTS
TAKING UP WHAT YOU LEFT OFF LAST YEAR
Actually, ideally, this is what the notorious RUK should look like – a reconnaissance attack circuit. When command and control, and artillery, and drones, and assault detachments of different units work as a single organism. But just a few months ago, the resistance line here near Kremennaya was about to burst. The enemy really threatened to break through the defense and go to the rear of the Lugansk People’s Republic. And in the fall, after the Kharkov region, we could lose part of the LPR.
However, the units of the Airborne Forces were hastily transferred here, which I came to visit on a festive morning. It was they who were able to stop the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And the mobilized who arrived in the landing units not only stabilized the line of defense. Today they advance alongside regular military personnel, occupying more advantageous positions and squeezing out positions lost last year.
Paratroopers today operate on almost the entire Svatovsky line, moving both towards Liman and towards Belogorovka. At the same time, they can boast of new weapons that are transferred to the troops directly from the factories. The same “Lancets” -domestic kamikaze drones- have been very active in this regard in recent weeks. They arrive where the artillery cannot fire.
“Or new BMD-4s (airborne combat vehicles – Ed.) came to us, Berezhok, again, very worthy vehicles,” a familiar officer of the 76th Guards Airborne Division tells me.
Together we go to one of the sectors of the front, where his subordinates operate. Also among the mobilized.
Photo: Alexander KOTS
ABRAMSAM IS PREPARING A HOT MEETING
– Do your ideas about fighting differ a lot from reality? – I ask Sergey from the Kemerovo region, the commander of the BMP-2M (infantry fighting vehicle. – Ed.) “Berezhka” with the inscription on the dashboard “Kuzbass is power!”
– Well, no one expected a “kindergarten” here, everyone understood that this was not a children’s joke. The adversary is strong, no one forgives anyone. Well, no one canceled cunning and military ingenuity. We have the necessary weapons, we crush the enemy.
“Berezhok” is the second birth of the good old BMP-2. Only in addition to the usual 30mm cannon, he now has four Kornet anti-tank systems, a heavy machine gun and an automatic grenade launcher. In addition, the machine can fire all four “bugles” at one point. And in the training field, the mobilized exercised shooting with a “doublet”. It will certainly come in handy when NATO-style tanks appear on the contact line. You can not take the same “Abrams” with a missile. And when two, but in one place, the chances are much higher. Yes, and the armor of the BMP-2M is more serious.
“Recently, they came under mortar fire, they grabbed a load under the “goose” – the car is intact, the entire crew is healthy,” says Sergey. – And, of course, here the internal equipment is of a completely different class. And the thermal imaging cameras, night vision devices, and fire control system are all very accurate and reliable. We work at night without problems.
Photo: Alexander KOTS
Sergey served six years ago in the Far East, in the 83rd Air Assault Brigade. After the “demobilization” he was an individual entrepreneur: acceptance of metal, construction. According to him, when he was served with the summons, he had no doubts.
– If you don’t go against the adversary, he will soon be at our door. I don’t want my family to suffer this.
– This is probably the first such party in your life. Has your attitude towards him changed?
– More pride in the native army. I want to congratulate my relatives and colleagues, comrades in arms. Good luck and most importantly, be patient. We will definitely win.
Photo: Alexander KOTS
NOW THE OPPONENT JUMPS IN THE CORNERS, CATCHING THE HIT
As in Artemovsk (Bakhmut), near Kremennaya, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are suffering huge losses. At the same time, they cling to every bush and constantly look for opportunities to counterattack. The enemy is trying to crush the positions of our paratroopers and motorized riflemen in small maneuverable groups. If it is very hot, armored groups come to the aid of our infantry. Several cars shoot straight out and literally pierce the forest in front of them. As a rule, after the “command performance” of our BMD and BMP, the enemy’s offensive fuse fades.
– Sometimes it’s easy to break through the enemy, sometimes it’s very difficult, but whatever, we’re moving forward. We have a goal. Where it is difficult, endure, where it is easier, rest. We work with artillery or armored groups. Reconnaissance transmits coordinates to us, coordinates our actions from the air, we go out, we suppress the enemy fire and the infantry comes under our protection, another mobilized tells me.
Photo: Alexander KOTS
Oleg from Omsk, also served in the Airborne Forces, in the 137 regiment in Ryazan, as a driver. In the “citizen” he worked as a master for the shipment of finished products.
– After the army, of course, I celebrated February 23, not really thinking about the essence. And now I understand that I am literally defending my Motherland.
– In cars! – the command sounds.
And Oleg with his crew in a convoy of three combat vehicles advances to the next task in the Torsky ledge area, where Russian paratroopers push the enemy towards Seversk and Belogorovka. From the east, the enemy group is crushed by motorized rifles and units of the 2nd Army Corps of the LPR, from the south – by groups of Wagner PMC, which in parallel form an encirclement ring around Artemovsk.
“The initiative is now on our side,” one of the commanders told me. – If before I felt like a goalkeeper in training, who jumped from one corner to another, covering holes, now in this position – the enemy. The main thing is to move so that you do not have the opportunity to concentrate attack groups in any direction. Now let the APU jump over the “goalie”.
