Title shortened to fit from: The main direction of the strike of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the change of tactics and "parcels" in the coffins: Results of the first stage of the offensive of Ukraine.
By Dmitri Stehin
A sniper with the call sign "Moskva" shared his thoughts on the current situation at the front.
"BOYS! THE NEW YORK TIMES WRITES ABOUT YOU"
It was the best front road in my memory, and I have seen enough of them. At an inconspicuous junction, I turned off the Azov Corridor highway (along which Russian holidaymakers are now rushing to Crimea - read a report about this on KP.RU) and drove to where a couple of weeks ago the first attempt of the widely publicized “counterattack” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine ended so shamefully.
My friends, standing near Rabotino and Orekhov, inconspicuous settlements that have not crawled out of the world media for a month, hurt not only the Bandera people - the “well-wishers” of Ukraine were also humiliated. There are no more boastful articles in the Western press with such June headlines: "German cats go out to hunt Russian mice." The tone has changed. Now they are counting the money of European and American taxpayers, burned in the Azov steppes, and cautiously talking about the "arising military impasse" and "the echo of the First World War."
To the lads fighting on the Zaporozhye front, I diligently forwarded links to these articles to The New York Times or The Washington Post with the obligatory comment: “Boys! They write about you." The boys were pleased, it was felt.
WHY A SNIPER WANTS CHILDREN'S PUREESH
Pureesh being baby food.
Despite the excellent asphalt, you can’t really accelerate on this road - blocks are every few kilometers. And I successfully tore templates in standard dialogs:
- Hello, where are you going?
- In ...., I'm taking baby food and cigarettes to my sniper friends.
Why baby food?
- A sniper lies in ambush, sucked on "Frutonyanya", applesauce, smoked a cigarette, bam! One enemy is gone! Will you have puree? Help yourself!
- No thanks, I'm not a sniper. And you go (thoughtfully). Hello snipers!
MINES OF THE WILD STEPPE
When I arrived, the sniper with the call sign “Moskva” was already dressed from head to toe in military uniform. Judging by the modest tuned SVD (Dragunov sniper rifle. - Ed.), He was not going to hunt. For hunting, he has another device of 12.7 caliber and three meters long, if measured with a muzzle brake-compensator. I guessed:
- I’m going to check the “secrets”, wherever in the forest camp (that’s what forest plantations are called in the NWO. - Auth.) We’ll lie down and talk. Are we going?
We arrived quickly, but it took a long time to park and enter the "forest camp". "Moskva" wandered along the roadside tenaciously peering into the thick grasses of the great Wild Steppe. Along the way, he explained to me:
- Petals okay, they lie on top of this grass. The most unpleasant thing is the German magnetic mines. Placed remotely. During the "counter-offensive" they mined our supply and rotation routes. There was a situation when our wounded could not be taken out for 12 hours.
- Can sappers remove these magnetic mines?
- Theoretically, yes. But it is dangerous and difficult, plus they are put on self-destruction, usually after four hours. Yes, and there is no point in removing them. The enemy will simply mine again. The same path or road.
- But what to do?
Moscow laughs: - Secret! Not for the newspaper. Even if it is Komsomolskaya Pravda.
THEY HAVE BIG LOSSES
We drove the car under the trees, camouflaged it with a net and found a barely noticeable path. Lie down. "Moscow" put the SVD into the tunnel, pierced in the "zelenka". Everything is quiet. Our helicopters have passed. A couple of times banged in the distance. This is what I started with:
- Is it quiet now?
Moscow confirmed:
- Yes, calm. Prior to that, they had been trying for a whole month to reach the Crimea and the Sea of Azov through our positions. It didn't work out, they had big losses. They even changed their tactics.
- How?
- At first they used armored vehicles, thinking that this would help them. Our ATGMs (ATGM-anti-tank guided missile. - Auth.), artillery and aviation inflicted very serious damage on them. Now they use armor only as a means of delivering infantry. And they are trying to overwhelm us with “meat”.
- And have we changed something in tactics?
- The enemy still has superiority in manpower. Ours, on orders, withdraw from their positions, artillery begins to work. We have superiority in artillery. And not only. Then we go back...
DRONE CREW IS EQUALIZED TO INTELLIGENCE
Moskva says what many wanted to hear:
- At the beginning of the CBO, quadrocopters were exotic for us, now they are commonplace. I myself, for example, learned to work with them. I am glad that there are more "industrial" kamikaze drones, our same "Lancets".
- I know that you are not using a Russian copter. Like many. How do you rate our Lancets?
- Well, it’s difficult to visually assess, they work deep behind the front line - 10-15 kilometers, but what the guys-operators of the Lancets show is impressive! I think this is promising, we need to develop further.
- Do you lose a lot of quadcopters? I had a conversation here with Alexander Khodakovsky (battalion commander of the Vostok, deputy head of the National Guard of the DPR, - Ed.), and he is a commander who is very deeply immersed in this topic, up to participation in development and testing. So, according to him, ten lost “birds” a week is the norm.
Moscow agrees:
- Yes, we also have 10 drones a week. But on a stretch of up to four kilometers. The enemy now has a priority in the fight against our drones and their crews. They equate the destruction of one drone crew to the destruction of a reconnaissance company. They take their role so seriously. If they see that the crew of the drone is moving into position, they can also see the cases by the bags - they don’t spare shells, they hit from all the barrels. Feel the threat from these fighters.
EXPECTED MORE FROM LEOPARDs
"Moscow" confirms - yes, it was they, near the city of Orekhov and the village of Rabotnoye, that had the direction of the main attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
- They tried to advance along the entire front, but the main efforts were made here. They spared neither people, nor equipment, nor ammunition.
- Now how does the enemy feel?
- Demoralized. Regroups. Probes other places. So far, the formula of the battle "to the last Ukrainian" is still in effect.
- Can we say that "Western technology screwed up"?
- Compared to the PR with which they started their "counterattack" - yes. They expected incredible achievements from her, but she still burns. There is a threat, but nothing serious.
- You once said that the same "Leopards" had an unpleasant property for us ...
"Moscow" without hesitation lists:
- Good, accurate guns, stabilization and guidance systems. And thermal imaging sights allow them to operate at night with high efficiency. Therefore, now they use the "Leopards" only by shooting from closed positions.
- They don't fit any closer?
- They are afraid. We eat them. ATGMs, helicopters with anti-tank missiles. So, even their superiority in night combat cannot be realized.
MANY MERCENARIES
- Were there many foreigners during the counteroffensive?
- A lot of. In the walkie-talkies they heard Polish, English, French speech. But they left here in coffins, mostly.
- Do you think the foreigners were there for the “smell”, like “USA and Europe are with us”, or did it give the enemy some kind of qualitative advantage?
“Moskva” does not agree, says that they punched the biographies of mercenaries according to the documents found:
Most are retirees. But what was their combat experience? War against civilians in Syria and Afghanistan?
Moskva summarizes with such sarcasm:
- Well, try to make war against our trained and fired army... Did you like it? Happened?
I left the snipers with a light heart. I liked the mood, the confidence of the people who calmed the messengers of hell.
“Moskva” said goodbye: “We have no right to retreat, we are protecting not only those who are now traveling to Crimea along the “corridor”, but the whole country. And we understand this well. Write so people don't worry." I wrote word for word.
INSTEAD OF AFTERWORD
"Trying to get into the joint"
Late at night, when I was already approaching Donetsk, “Moskva” sent a message: “So the dill regrouping is over, they are trying to get into the junction between our regiments.”
However, in the morning another, very short message came from my friend: “2 units were shot down in the Rabotino area. M113 "(2 American armored personnel carriers" Bradley ").