Hromadske

Feb 2, 2023

Ukrainian artillery near Soledar is trying to hold back the Russian military, including fighters from the private military campaign Wagner, who are advancing on this section of the front. The situation here is getting more complicated for the Ukrainian defense forces every day. The main roads to the town of Bakhmut are already being shelled by enemy artillery, which has also intensified its activity in the last week. Ukrainian artillery is working mainly to accumulate manpower, preventing Wagner’s forces from occupying key villages so that they can get closer to the main roads leading to Bakhmut. If they succeed, access to the city for the defense forces will be more difficult, as well as supply. Hromadske visited the positions of rocket artillery of one of the tank brigades. The unit has been working in the Donetsk sector for a month now, having moved here after the liberation of the right bank of the Kherson region, having previously defended its native Kryvbas from the enemy’s offensive. Now the tank’s hails are helping the infantry of their own brigade, which is holding positions near Soledar to prevent Russians from reaching the main roads to Bakhmut. The artillerymen are saving shells for hailstones, so they have to hit the target. Although this is not the main task of the grenade launchers.

Jan 27, 2023

The “Ogre” pulls the Executioner. Have you ever seen one Pion self-propelled 203mm cannon pulling another? This can only be seen in a report by hromadske. “Pions” are working on the hottest part of the frontline from Soledar to Bakhmut. Now the main target is the Wagnerites, who are entrenched in Soledar, which they captured in early January. From there, the Russians are trying to put pressure on our defense in order to seize the Sloviansk-Bakhmut highway and cut off the city’s supply lines. Another direction of their attack is the Kostyantynivka-Bakhmut highway. One of the tasks of these guns, which are the largest in the Ukrainian army, is to prevent the Ukrainian army from blocking this supply route as well. “The Pions are equipped with 203-millimeter caliber shells that can penetrate concrete fortifications to a depth of 8 meters on the first hit. This time, hromadske witnessed the work of “Pions” to accumulate manpower in Soledar. They fired 9 shells, after which one of the guns broke down. One “Pion” pulled the other one back, but within an hour both vehicles were back on the battlefield. The intensity of the fighting and artillery – both ours and the enemy’s in this area – is so high that the equipment often simply cannot withstand it. The most difficult thing about the work of artillerymen here is this problem: the equipment needs to be constantly repaired and at the same time constantly working. There are almost no days without going to the battlefield. While other types of artillery do not stop working even for 5 minutes. There is a growing number of artillery, in particular Western artillery. As well as artillerymen. hromadske witnessed the initiation into artillery of an IT guy who received a summon only two months ago at a checkpoint in Lviv. Now he is a platoon commander.

Jan 25, 2023

On the morning of February 24, Russian missiles struck the airfield in Novyi Kalyniv, Lviv region. The 12th Army Aviation Brigade, named in honor of Viktor Pavlenko, which was based there, prepared for the Russian attack: on the night of the attack, helicopters were redeployed, and according to the military, all aircraft survived. From the very beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the military pilots performed combat missions: transporting ammo and weapons, destroying Russian military hardware and personnel in the Kyiv region, and then working in the Donetsk region. But the most difficult operation for the pilots were missions to Azovstal when Mariupol was already encircled. For their participation in this operation, the pilots of the 12th Brigade were awarded the title of “Heroes of Ukraine.” They delivered medicines, food, and weapons to Azovstal’s defenders and evacuated the most severely wounded. However, not all of them returned from the dangerous mission.