on the road where the offensive troops were advancing towards Kherson
“It’s true, geography doesn’t help us here, it’s so true that we see a group of soldiers advancing for kilometers,” laughs 60th sergeant Yurae mechanized brigade, 97e battalion. But we are the ones who lead this village, gun in hand, house by house, he continues. I’m not saying it’s easy, but the fact is that we have accepted it and will continue to do so: to free the would-be orcs (a term used by Ukrainians to designate the Russian invaders, editor’s note). masters in our native land. The locals know that we will not leave them and we will not give our country to anyone. »
Losses
In Vyssokopillia, on Vyzvolyteliv street, the main thoroughfare of the village, half of the buildings bear the consequences of the battles.
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With a population of 4,000 before the war, Vyssokopillia is a western town in the middle of fields of wheat and rapeseed, with Soviet architecture as a bonus. On Gagarin Street, which exits to the west, Yura keeps a Lada that serves as a taxi for his entire division. Talking like trash, he obviously decided to break the “media fog” and operational silence imposed on the soldiers to give the least information to the enemy through the media. “We are assault troops, Jurassic continues, and you know, assault troops are sometimes half or two-thirds of the manpower of a destroyed group. »
“When will we get Kherson back?” I don’t know, but we’d like to be home for New Years.”
On September 4, the recapture of Vyssokopillian took place at the cost of four attacks, before the Ukrainian army planted its flag on the roof of the destroyed hospital. “The fighting continues further south (30 km away), but I’m not allowed to tell you where,” explains Yura. When will we get Kherson back? I don’t know, but we’d like to be home for New Years.” A few days ago, Ukrainian military intelligence predicted that Kherson would fall by the end of November. “What is certain is that it is going slowly,” says Yura. Yes, we are moving forward, but yes, we are losing a lot of people along the way…”
“I cried”
Yura’s unit occupies a shrapnel-filled greenhouse where Russian soldiers have been housed in rooms and basements for months. “They stole markers from children’s pencil cases and look at what they wrote,” said Yura. “Z” and “V” insult Ukraine, NATO and the Nazis. On the stairs leading to the basement, you can read: “Already during the time of Peter the Great, special units were formed. Europe remembers our great celebration, there is no obstacle for the Russian army. The owner of the house is 66-year-old Nadiya. “After I was released, I cried when I returned, as if my house had been defiled and they were shooting everywhere.
Yura, a sergeant from the 60th Mechanized Brigade, shows the labels left by the Russian occupiers: insults against Ukraine, NATO, “Nazis” and slogans glorifying the Russian Empire.
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Since then, he willingly lends his house to soldiers of the 60se Brigadier, he sees through Chime’s eyes. “They stay there as long as they want, I cook for them, I love them, they are great! laughs Nadiya, whose husband was bombed in the first days of the war. Yura’s deputy Victor reminds that they can be called back to the front every five minutes. “And this war is day and night lying in the trenches, sometimes unarmored, receiving enemy fire and iron. Then one day we move forward, we go behind the tanks, he says. Our only problem is with the hardware. »
“What is this Russian world and this civilization of thieves? »
For Viktor, “Our most important thing is that we have a morale made of steel, and we have the Ukrainian people who support us like a gardener waters his flowers, but we need it. [les Européens] give us more equipment, tanks, guns, planes, i promise you we will know how to use them. What’s the use of weapons if we don’t use them for good? The battle is going on in the direction of Kherson. Autumn rains slow Ukraine’s progress. The invaders have deported more than 70,000 residents of Kherson and the right (west) bank of the Dnieper River, and are rumored to be pushing checkpoints to trap the Ukrainian vanguard, giving the impression of retreat.
Back to the dropper
37-year-old Rima Lachok and her daughter Veronika fled Vyssokopillia on the first day of the war. They return from Kryvyi Roh every weekend to make their home livable again.
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Due to the harsh living conditions in the liberated areas, as well as the fear of the return of the Russians, the return of the Ukrainian population is taking place gradually. 37-year-old Rima Lachok fled Vyssokopillia on the first day of the war and settled in Kryvyi Roh, 60 km north. For three weekends, a chef from a local college fixes her house. “We will return to the village, because it is easier to live here with a wood stove than in the city, where you will find yourself in an apartment with no light and no heat, where the bombing continues,” he said. Kryvyi Roh, in turn, is hit by Iranian Shahed-136 jets, which damage the power grid.
