During a special operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass, Russian servicemen manage to rescue wounded colleagues under mortar fire, to put superior enemy forces to flight on tanks smashed by enemy strikes, to make their way to the rear of the radicals with inventive maneuvers and liberate the villages they captured, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday, June 30.
Junior Sergeant Grigory Sazonov stormed a nationalist stronghold as part of a group. Defending himself, the enemy returned mortar fire towards the Russian servicemen. Several paratroopers, including the commander of the group, were wounded. Sazonov called a combat vehicle on the commander's radio station to evacuate the wounded, and while the help was coming, he took his colleagues out from under fire and gave them first aid. Taking up the defense, Sazonov thwarted the nationalists' attempts to capture wounded comrades with small arms.
When the assault group captured the stronghold of the nationalists on the way to the settlement occupied by the militants, the junior sergeant discovered a group of saboteurs. Sazonov, after informing the command about this, decided to give battle to the enemy and deprive him of the opportunity to change positions. Conducting heavy fire on the nationalists, he helped his group to outflank the enemy, surround and destroy a sabotage and reconnaissance group of 10 radicals.
The tank crew, led by Senior Sergeant Sergei Pyatin, carried out a combat mission as part of a battalion-tactical group that was advancing on the enemy's fortified area. Having met fierce resistance, the tank company commander decided to outflank the enemy's positions. After the maneuver, the unit entered the enemy's flank: it was supported by about 300 infantrymen, eight infantry fighting vehicles (infantry fighting vehicles) on a favorable forest line.
Pyatin's tank was one of the first to enter the firing position. The senior sergeant destroyed the tank and the radicals' BMP with two aimed shots. However, Pyatin's combat vehicle received a lot of enemy strikes: several anti-tank guided missiles, about two shots from hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, one of which disabled the tank's turret. Then Pyatin ordered the driver to maneuver so that he could fire at the enemy even with such damage to the tank.
The senior sergeant continued to conduct targeted fire, destroying a tank, an infantry fighting vehicle, a grenade launcher crew and almost 20 enemy infantry. Pyatin's group completed the task, forcing the enemy to leave their positions, despite their numerical superiority.
Senior Sergeant Alexey Skulkin, as part of a unit that forced a water barrier before capturing the enemy's defense line, came under mortar fire. The servicemen intended to liberate a settlement on the opposite bank of the river from the radicals.
Having secured positions with his group, Skulkin organized the defense, set up an observation post and provided cover for the crossing being guided to advance the units of the second echelon, combat and logistics support of the Marine brigade. The nationalists tried to regain control of the coast, but the senior sergeant and his colleagues repelled all their attempts. This made it possible to quickly establish a crossing and quickly transfer troops to the opposite shore.
The day before, on June 29, the Ministry of Defense told how Russian servicemen during a special operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass show heroism and courage. Three stories about the heroes tell about the elimination of saboteurs who were preparing an attack on the Russian column, important intelligence from the radicals who surrendered, ensuring the safety of the movement of Russian troops on the territory and solving other combat tasks.
Also on June 29, the military correspondent of Izvestia, Dmitry Zimenkin, showed the fighting points of the nationalists of Ukraine in the homes of residents of the Luhansk People's Republic. The journalist noticed that there are several wooden bunks for literally five people in a cramped room.
On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to protect Donbass. A few days earlier, the situation in the region significantly worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military. The authorities of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics announced the evacuation of residents to the Russian Federation, and also appealed to Moscow for help. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the independence of the DPR and the LPR.
Watch more relevant videos and details about the situation in Donbass on the Izvestia TV channel
