The Russian military conducted a unique operation to restore the harbor in a month and a half
The port of Mariupol is a strategically important point of the Donetsk Republic. This harbor will provide Lugansk, Donetsk and Zaporozhye region with a reliable transport route. It will be used for the export of metals, wheat and coal, plus the import of important industrial, social and household goods will begin. Ukrainian armed formations fought for the port to the last and made every effort to destroy the infrastructure and make its water area inaccessible. But in a month and a half, Russian sailors not only knocked out the enemy, but also completely returned the sea gates of Mariupol to working condition. The military observer of Izvestia, Alexey Ramm, visited the port and found out how the unique operation to restore it took place.
The most important artery
— Since May 28, the port has been operating normally, — the head of the Donetsk Republic Denis Pushilin tells us.
We are standing in the port of Mariupol. I was here at the beginning of April, when the fighting was still going on. Then the Allied reconnaissance groups only entered the port and found ships and their crews there, who had been forcibly detained by the armed formations of Ukraine (VFU) since February 24.
On April 12, heavy fighting unfolded in the port area. The Russian and Donetsk military knocked out the VFU and cut off the harbor of Mariupol from the Azovstal plant. In addition to artillery, the sides actively used armored vehicles, tanks, and armored personnel carriers in that battle.
Now, a month and a half later, only broken buildings remind of these clashes. The territory of the port has already been cleared of mines and shells, fragments and debris have been removed, the remains of burnt equipment have been removed. Employees of the seaport freely move around the territory, cars drive, cargo is loaded and shipped.
— The port of Mariupol has been completely cleared. 12 thousand explosive objects were removed from here, — says the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin. — Now we need to bring electricity and water here. According to preliminary plans, it will take two to three weeks.
The Donetsk Republic has big plans for the port of Mariupol. By the end of the year, it is expected to ship at least 1 million tons of cargo through it. Coal, iron, and grain will be exported from the republic. Construction materials will be delivered to the DPR by sea, which will be used to restore the territory of the republic liberated from Ukrainian militants.
The main role in the liberation and then the restoration of the port of Mariupol was played by the Russian sailors of the Novorossiysk Naval Base. They carried out a unique operation to clear the harbor of underwater obstacles and ships flooded by Ukrainian forces. Now Novorossiysk residents ensure the safety of this harbor.
Blow up and disassemble
Even before the start of the special military operation, Ukrainian armed formations mined most of the beaches in Mariupol and installed engineering barriers on them.
— They were afraid that we would conduct a naval landing, — says an officer of the Russian Navy with the call sign "Motor". — The Belosaray spit especially got it. There are the densest minefields here. Mostly Ukrainians used anti-amphibious mines PDM-1. One such mine will easily destroy not only an armored personnel carrier afloat, but also damage the ship.
On the first day of the special military operation, several ships, including two heavy sea cranes, were flooded in the water area of the port of VFU. As a result, several cargo ships were trapped in the harbor, whose crews were held hostage by Kiev.
— Our search and rescue service and divers conducted a unique operation, - says the commander of the Novorossiysk Naval Base, Rear Admiral Viktor Kochemazov. — The heaviest for lifting were two floating cranes, which the Ukrainians flooded in Mariupol. These are "Evgeny Petrov" and "Astrakhan-5".
Russian navy sailors decided to carve these vessels under water and raise them by individual elements. To do this, divers laid explosives on board floating cranes, and the parts separated after the explosion were already lifted to the surface.
Now the wreckage of "Evgeny Petrov" and "Astrakhan-5" does not interfere with shipping. They are stacked on one of the berths, later they will be sent for disassembly and further melting.
The funniest thing is that three warships of the naval forces of Ukraine became prisoners of the Mariupol port: two armored boats "Gyurza" and a control ship "Berdyansk". The Ukrainian sailors hoped that the small draft of the boats would allow them to leave the port despite the underwater barriers. But their calculations turned out to be wrong. Both "Gyurzas" remained at the berths. One was sunk during the fighting, and the second became a trophy of the Russian Navy. The same fate befell the boats of the Ukrainian Prikordonnaya service. Part of the watercraft of the Kiev border guards was captured, and some went to the bottom.
Under reliable protection
Now that the work of the port of Mariupol has been restored, the Novorossiysk Naval Base provides security here.
Navy sailors invite us to walk through the harbor on a ship. As soon as we moved away from the pier, we were immediately taken under guard by the Russian armored boat project 1204 "Bumblebee". It has a low hull, guns, multiple rocket launchers and heavy machine guns are installed on board. Such "Bumblebees" guard the entire water area of the port.
Protection is really needed: they know here that Ukrainian militants are capable of any madness. In the Black Sea Fleet, everyone remembers the history of the "maniac" well. On April 9, when the Navy desperately clung to the seaport of Mariupol, the Apache cargo ship, assigned to the Maltese port of Valletta, was heading for the Kerch Strait. At 22 hours, 30 km south-east of Mariupol, the cargo ship abruptly changed course and tried to break into the port blocked from the sea. On the shore, Ukrainian militants lit signal lights, and a radio signal "I'm a Maniac, I'm coming to help" was coming from the Apache to the shore. However, the raid of the "maniac" ended in failure. The Russian Navy stopped the cargo ship and towed it to the port.
We pass by the cargo berths. The first bulk carriers are already standing at the walls. With us, the port cranes load rolled sheet metal. Humanitarian aid and the first batches of construction materials are unloaded from the holds of ships to the shore.
Sea Death
Meanwhile, the sea continues to pose a deadly danger to the residents of Mariupol. Not all beaches have been cleared of Ukrainian minefields yet.
— Ukrainians use PDM-1, — a Russian Navy officer with the call sign "Motor" tells us. — These mines have special pins. If they are deflected by a certain angle, an explosion occurs. When installing PDM, Ukrainians shortened these pins. Here, in the Sea of Azov, especially near the shore, the depth is small. To prevent the pins from sticking out of the water, they were cut off. But this is a danger primarily for civilians who do not see mines on the water.
A few days before our arrival, a tragedy occurred on one of the beaches of the Belosaray Spit. The grandmother brought her grandson to swim on an air mattress, although there were danger warning signs on the beach. There were no mines in sight, and the woman decided that the place was safe, but both the grandson and his grandmother were blown up and died. The sensitivity of the shortened fuse pins increased, so even a light air mattress triggered the mine.
According to the "Motor", the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Donetsk Republic is engaged in cleaning beaches from mines. But rescuers do not have such experience, so the fleet came to the rescue. Improvised minesweeping groups are being created for mine clearance. A mine trawl is pulled between two floating transporters of the PTS. These devices were made in the workshops of the Mariupol port by special order. One PTS goes along the shore, and the second swims across the sea at a safe distance, and the trawl stretched between them hooks the detonator pins.
When a PDM-1 mine explodes, a column of water with a height of 30-40 meters rises into the air. And even at a distance of a hundred meters, the blast wave hits you noticeably in the chest. According to the military, debris can fall within a radius of several hundred meters. But, as our officer with the call sign "Motor" assures, the Russian fleet will cope with this.
Alexey Ramm
