Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1497523
Naval Analogy Let's go back to Bakhmut. „They are 5 kilometers away already", Yuriy, a Ukrainian soldier and my guide said, when we stopped at the North-Eastern end of the city. And he pointed to the area next to the road leading to Soledar. „For now, they are too far - they cannot reach us with small arms, but they are making attempts to come closer all the time". No, not in waves, as the media tend to report. The naval analogy is justified, as the Russians attack the Ukrainian positions, but not en masse. The enemy sends squads of a couple, to several soldiers, attacking multiple locations all at once. They „sting" the defenders, willing to wear them off. Many elements as such are neutralized. Those who manage to take over at least a couple of inches of new terrain instantly entrench themselves. The determination, consistency, and accurate fire (at least by Russian standards) and skills of the VDV units come together here. More and more of them conduct operations in the Bakhmut area, they are replacing the Wagner's mercenaries. A few days after my return to Poland they seemed to be the only ones in the Bakhmut area. They were being killed at a pace that was previously unknown. But the Ukrainians also suffer from major losses, caused by the artillery assets (primarily). Interestingly, the Russians gathered numerous guns that are several years old and had been kept in deep storage beyond the Ural mountains before the war. These guns are also used within other „active" fragments of the frontline, near Vukhledar or Kremiena. They do not look fresh - they are rusty, the paint peels off, and they feature no modern targeting systems. They do work though, with the quantity used to generate quality. In general, the Russian artillery units were not www.fragoutmag.com