Ukrainian Marines on ‘suicide mission’ crossing the Dnipro River

There was a slight tremor in the Marine’s voice as he talked about the internecine fighting on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, where he was recently wounded.

“We were in the water at night and were being shot at by all kinds of things,” said Marine Maksym. “My comrades died before my eyes.”

For two months, the Ukrainian Marine Corps led an assault across the Dnipro River in the southern Kherson region to retake territory from Russian forces. The operation is Ukraine’s latest attempt in its counter-offensive to breach Russian defenses in the south and turn the tide of the war.

Soldiers and Marines who took part in the river crossings describe the offensive as brutal and futile, as waves of Ukrainian troops are crushed on the banks of the river or in the water before they reach the other side.

Conditions are so difficult, half a dozen men involved in the fighting said in interviews, that in most places there is no place to dig in. The first approaches are usually swampy islands full of streams or meadows that have become a mud pit. and bomb craters filled with water.

The soldiers and marines gave only their first names for security reasons or requested anonymity, and commanders rejected almost all media requests to visit military units in the Kherson region.

Several soldiers and Marines spoke to reporters out of concern about the high numbers of casualties and what they said were overly optimistic accounts from officials about the offensive’s progress.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said it was not immediately possible to comment on the soldiers’ accusations but would provide a response in due course.

Some of the heaviest fighting took place in the village of Krynky, on the eastern bank, thirty kilometers upriver from the city of Kherson, where Ukrainian forces seized a narrow strip of fishing houses – the only place where they could capture a stronghold.

But footage of the area, streamed live from a drone and seen by The New York Times, confirmed soldiers’ accounts of heavy Russian airstrikes that destroyed homes and turned the riverbank into a mass of mud and splintered trees.

New troops arriving on the eastern bank must step on the bodies of soldiers entangled in the churned mud, said Oleksiy, a veteran soldier who fought in Krynky in October and has crossed several times since to help evacuate the wounded.

Some of the dead Marines have been there for two months as units have been unable to retrieve the bodies due to heavy shelling, said Volodymyr, a deputy company commander who attended the funeral of one of his men. only as Denys, last week.

“The Left Bank is very difficult,” Volodymyr said. “Those who do it are the real heroes, men with great willpower.”

With Ukraine’s counter-offensive stalled and the United States and even the European Union showing signs of scaling back aid, the offensive across the rivers is being closely watched for signs that Ukraine could regain momentum against Russian forces. The hope is that they can make a breakthrough deep enough to threaten Russia’s supply routes and its hold in the south. The Marine Corps, rebuilt at full strength this year with a number of newly formed brigades, was assigned the task.

Since the war began, Ukrainian officials have tried to maintain a positive narrative in an effort to maintain morale at home and support abroad. The number of casualties is not published, nor are details of the setbacks suffered by Ukrainian troops.

In the case of the Dnipro, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and other officials have recently suggested that the Marines have gained a foothold on the eastern bank. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a statement Last month they claimed to have established several strongholds.

But Marines and soldiers who have been there say these accounts overstate the case.

“There are no positions. There is no such thing as an observation post or position,” Oleksiy said. “It is impossible to gain a foothold there. It is impossible to move equipment there.”

“It’s not even a fight for survival,” he added. “It’s a suicide mission.”

Oleksiy said the Ukrainian commanders’ poor preparation and logistics had decimated his battalion. Wounded men were left behind because of a lack of boats, he said, and the brutal conditions were damaging soldiers’ morale and support for each other.

“People who end up there are not psychologically prepared,” he said. “They don’t even understand where they are going. The command that sends them there tells them nothing.”

Oleksiy agreed to let The Times publish his report out of frustration over the losses. “I haven’t seen anything like that in Bakhmut or Soledar,” he said, referring to two of the most intense battles on the Eastern Front. “It’s so wasteful.”

Russian air raids along the river banks marked on the Control map of Ukraine, which geolocates video footage of strikes on both sides of the front, confirms his description. The map shows heavy Russian aerial bombardments at several intersections along a 40-mile stretch of the river.

The Russian troops are also suffering heavy losses, according to various sources. The map shows multiple hits from Ukrainian artillery, rockets and drones on Russian troops and armor in all major settlements along the eastern bank. The city of Kherson has been repeatedly attacked by the Russians, but it also resounds with the constant fire of Ukrainian artillery.

“Generally we are on hunting duty,” said Yevhen Karas, 36, deputy commander of the 14th Separate Regiment, who was visiting one of his units operating drones against Russian targets across the river. He asked that the location not be revealed for security reasons.

“The main priority is Russian artillery and defending our operations,” said Karas, whose surname is also his military call sign. After two months of operations, he said, Russian units in the area and long-range artillery had been severely suppressed. Russian troops generally stayed under cover during the day and therefore moved only at night, he said.

From 2014, Karas led a volunteer military group, C14, which watchdog groups describe as far-right. In 2016, it was integrated into the Ukrainian army as a special operations force.

The Marines suffered, Karas said, but the Ukrainian attacks had unnerved Russian commanders, who brought back an airborne unit from the Zaporizhia front to shore up defenses.

“They are very afraid that this month, or in the spring or summer, Ukraine will increase its territory to expand and liberate the eastern bank,” he said, adding that he was monitoring, among other things, radio intercepts of Russian communications .

Even a small territorial gain would give Ukraine the opportunity to attack Russian supply routes to Crimea, he said. But for now, the cross-river operation was not aimed at a breakthrough but at capturing and killing as many Russian troops as possible, he said.

Drones proved crucial in that battle, providing reconnaissance and guiding artillery while increasingly bombarding troops and equipment with explosives. A kamikaze drone was cheaper and more accurate than expensive artillery shells, which are becoming increasingly scarce, said the unit’s commander, Dzhmil, 37, giving his call sign.

“We read the newspapers and we know who is helping us and that everything has a price,” he said, referring to growing debates in the United States and Europe over aid to Ukraine. This week, the threat of future aid cuts only grew as Mr. Zelensky’s efforts to win support in the European Union and the U.S. Congress were rebuffed.

Ukrainian artillery and drone units were well placed along the western bank of the river, which has the advantage of being higher than the eastern bank and providing access to supplies, electricity and logistics, Karas said.

But while Russian artillery has been suppressed in some areas, the armed forces have retaliated with devastating aerial bombardments, rocket attacks and a large number of drones.

Marine Maksym, who was recovering in hospital after being wounded in Krynky in November, said the Russian airstrikes and fire from tanks, artillery and mortars were so intense that his platoon could not advance from the basements where the soldiers first had sought refuge.

After three men were killed in an air raid, the platoon was ordered to evacuate. It became a chaotic and disastrous retreat. The soldiers came under shell fire as they walked to the riverbank in the dark, but upon arrival were told they would have to wait three hours for the boats to pick them up.

“It was a swamp, all in craters filled with water,” Maksym said, adding: “We had no choice but to try to dig as deep as we could.”

“Everyone was already hurt by then,” he said. A boat came, with a different mission, which took away the most seriously injured.

While they waited for more boats, Russian planes bombed the riverbank with three glide bombs, huge half-ton explosives that punched large holes in the earth.

Another boat arrived and took away another five wounded. Maksym had to wait another 40 minutes for the next boat.

“The Left Bank was like purgatory,” he said. “You’re not dead yet, but you don’t feel alive.”

Of the 10 men in his platoon, half were dead or missing, he said. ‘None survived without injuries’