How Russian troops are pushing the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donetsk direction
In the Donetsk direction, intense fighting is taking place in several areas at once in the SVO zone. Rather than their intensity, their character is changing: enemy artillery strikes less and less often, but the use of all types of unmanned systems is increasing. Izvestia visited the positions of anti-tank missile systems, artillery, air defense and at the ceremony of awarding volunteers with state awards, learned about the situation in the area of responsibility of the 1st Donetsk Corps and what is the peculiarity of the current confrontation on the front line in the DPR.
The house is behind you
— I do not allow infantry and equipment to enter our Russian land. My weapon is the Fagot anti—tank missile system. I've already had to use it for equipment, fortifications, and infantry. But it's rare in terms of technology, they don't have much of it now, they don't really come here, only the infantry tried," says Kira, an anti—tank complex operator from the Kalmius brigade of the 1st Donetsk Corps.
Today, enemy fortifications in this area are in most cases destroyed by FPV drones, valuable ATGMs are protected. In addition, the range of kamikaze drones is higher, and it is safer to operate them for operators who are more difficult to detect. And fighters with anti-tank missile systems are preparing in case the enemy tries to attack. Their ATGMs are controlled by wire, do not depend on the electronic environment, they can be quickly prepared for firing, so they can do their job in any conditions. Now the unit already has night and thermal imaging sights for such complexes, so shooting is possible even at night.
152-mm D-20 guns of the 5th Brigade of the 1st Donetsk Corps are working in another section of this direction. The guns are camouflaged and covered with anti-drone nets, the personnel are in shelters, all movements in the area of firing positions are limited so that they cannot be seen from the air.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Military personnel say that the activity of the enemy's classical artillery continues to decrease. It is noticeable that the enemy is saving imported shells against the background of problems with foreign aid. But the activity of enemy drones is only increasing, and the raids are becoming more widespread. The range of enemy drones is also growing. The same is noted by Donetsk civilians who come under air strikes at public transport stops and shops in areas far from the line of contact.
— I'm from the city of Dnepropetrovsk, I came here in the 14th year. I didn't like what was happening in our country, and I had to choose a side, let's say. There were too many crazy people running around me," says a serviceman with the Romanian call sign about how he ended up in the militia, and then in the army.
Now he has his own house in the DPR. Fighters from the frontline outskirts of Donetsk are serving in the calculation together with the Romanian, and in their case the expression "house behind your back" also has an absolutely literal meaning. Many have been on the front line since 2014, some "with breaks" for peaceful life or without them.
— When the war started in 2014, my father was in Slavyansk, I worked in the police, people were evacuated. And when he quit, he volunteered. At first I was in the infantry, a driver mechanic, a squad commander, a sergeant major, a company commander, then I was already offered to join the artillery," says Jackson.
His father was injured during the 2015 Debaltseve campaign and resigned after that, and Jackson continues to serve.
Small arms are back in business
At the air defense positions near the Strela-10M anti-aircraft missile system, we communicate with calculation. They have already destroyed several drones of various types. Large vehicles were shot down with missiles, and copters with small arms fire. The combat vehicle has two people, the third is on duty with a machine gun, covering the SAM from a raid by small drones.
The automata of both of our interlocutors are in tuning, which was previously installed rather in special units: collimator sights with magnifiers, high-capacity magazines, flashlights and laser designators on the forearm. Fire on drones such as the notorious Baba Yaga, especially in the dark, has to be carried out from small arms.
— Now the machine gun is already the primary weapon. Both "Furies" and "Valkyries" were repeatedly shot down with his help. And large aircraft—type drones are from a rocket launcher," says Tim.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Tim is almost 30 years old and he has been under the gun since 2014. In his civilian specialty, he is a tractor driver, one of the most sought—after "dual-use" professions. Next to Tim, the SAM has a fighter with the call sign Compass. He is younger, in 2014 he was 14 years old, and his father was in the militia (he has the call sign Compass), who today serves in the same unit. Kompasik joined the DPR army after immediately graduating from school. I wanted to be an anti-aircraft gunner, I purposefully aspired to this part.
Sometimes the routine of everyday combat is briefly disrupted: in one of the shelters, servicemen of several volunteer detachments were awarded state awards at once. This is an important event, in the initial period of its volunteers, awards of this level were rarely celebrated. But today their legal status has been definitively determined, and this problem is becoming a thing of the past. Many fighters receive awards for fighting in the Kharkov area.
Among the awardees is Maxim Vaganov, a well—known volunteer in the DPR, a war correspondent. Having first arrived from Moscow to join the militia in the summer of 2014, Maxim returned to the war later, in 2015 and 2017. In 2022, he volunteered for the Kharkov direction and then decided to continue serving.
— As Motorola said at the time (the former commander of the special forces "Sparta" of the DPR, who was killed in a terrorist attack. — Izvestia): "The Russians are here," and that's enough. I am the same Russian as the Donetsk or Lugansk people. This reason is enough for me," explains Maxim Vaganov.
Maxim Vaganov
Image source: Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
He explains that he has lived in Donetsk for so long that the city has become his home.
— It seems to me that the enemy is gradually running out of steam. This is not a quick process, but there is a tendency," Maxim, a volunteer, sums up the current situation.
He expects to fight until the end of his life, and then, perhaps, link his life with the army.
Dmitry Astrakhan