The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the first time published footage of the movement of Russian military equipment on a pontoon crossing constructed by military engineers of the Western Military District across the Seversky Donets River during a special military operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass. This became known on Thursday, April 7.
Directing the crossing and ensuring its operation is an important part of the special operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation together with the units of the People's Militia of the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics (LNR and DNR) in the south of the Kharkiv region. As a result of the offensive, the nationalists and the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) were driven out of the city of Izyum.
Fierce clashes over the crossing south of the Izyum went on for more than three weeks. From Mount Kremenets, the nationalist formations and the AFU were adjusting artillery fire. Before the retreat, the AFU units and the militants blew up three bridges and fortified themselves near a cable-stayed pedestrian crossing.
During the special operation, the engineering units of the separate engineering sapper battalion of the Western Military District (ZVO) were the first to begin guiding the river crossing.
During fierce fighting, a tactical special forces group and military engineers cleared a cable-stayed bridge, broke through the enemy's defenses and secured themselves on the opposite bank. Thus, the servicemen of the Russian army made it possible to ferry heavy armored vehicles of the shock group of battalion-tactical groups.
Later, the bridge crossing was replaced by a pontoon crossing with a total length of more than 90 m . It is emphasized that the crossing, when guided, was fired by enemy mortars under the control of enemy drones around the clock. Mortar strikes damaged pontoons daily, which is why military engineers had to simultaneously adjust the flow of columns of Russian armored vehicles and repair the crossing.
The organization of work on the guidance of the pontoon crossing was carried out by the deputy chief of the engineering troops of the ZVO, Colonel Nikolai Ovcharenko, and the commander of a separate engineering battalion of the ZVO, Captain Yevgeny Nikitin.
It is reported that on March 19, during the next restoration of the crossing, in addition to the usual mortar attacks, prohibited phosphorus shells were used on it. Ovcharenko and Nikitin, who were wounded, remained in the ranks and continued to lead the restoration of the pontoon crossing, which ensured the fulfillment of the combat mission despite enemy fire.
In mid-February, due to the aggravation of the situation in Donbass as a result of shelling by the Ukrainian military, the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) announced the evacuation of civilians to the Russian Federation and asked for recognition of independence. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a corresponding decree.
On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass. As the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov clarified, the special operation pursues two goals — demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. According to him, both of these aspects pose a threat to the Russian state and people.
