About the work of sappers, medics and supplies in the liberated territories — in the Izvestia report
Smoking earth, scattered mines underfoot, wrecked vehicles with flat tires, bodies of the dead, fiber—optic networks - such a picture opens up when you arrive in the newly liberated villages of the Sudzha district. Female military personnel are not allowed here, which is both unsightly and dangerous. You need to have iron nerves to be here, the fighters say. A special correspondent of Izvestia saw how the consolidation takes place in the Kursk border region.
"Not a step aside"
Our way is to the eastern flank of the Sudzha highway. In mid-March, the 30th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment, the Akhmat special forces and other units recaptured it. Some geographical names are like newfound household names. Russian Porechnoye — in February, civilians were found shot in its basements. Cherkassk Porechnoye — especially fierce battles were fought for it for six months. Martinovka — the diary of 77-year-old Tatiana Vaskova was discovered in one of the houses, on its pages she described her last days and said goodbye to her family.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Image source: iz.ru
We are going to this conglomerate with Rodion, a soldier of the Akhmat special forces, call sign Dostoevsky. Yesterday's stormtrooper, who passed Popasnaya, Kremennaya, today he is responsible for providing the unit with food, water, fuel, medicines, gasoline.
— A very important and underrated specialty! — he says, as we drive around the numerous burned-out cars on a country road in a recent battle zone. — The soldier's morale depends on how he is equipped. If you give up on him, don't expect a good result. And vice versa. As we can see, rapid progress is underway in our direction.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Image source: iz.ru
Villages and hamlets, whose names are so easy to get confused, are located in picturesque woodlands. The Suja River meanders between the verdant hills, sparkling lakes. And right there, countless mines and shells of all stripes glisten in the sun on roads and fields. The most frequent shout here is: "Don't step aside!"
The web of Wartime
The stormtroopers of the "thirty" are stationed in a ruined house of one of the farms, without windows or doors. They came here a few days ago (no one will remember how many days, such intense events). The conditions are as spartan as possible: a board under the back, a sleeping bag instead of a blanket, a backpack under the head. "We're soldiers," they grin. — There's no time to settle in. And there's no need. We can go further tomorrow."
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Image source: iz.ru
According to the commander of one of the groups, Evgeny, call sign Zhora, as soon as they entered here, the remaining SS men loaded onto two trucks, a KamAZ and a Ural, and retreated. They abandoned weapons, appliances, and the kitchen. It is unknown whether they managed to get far away, as our other groups are pressing further south. However, these harassment and attacks, the military says, cannot be called simple at all — the enemy resists fiercely, actively using artillery and drones during the retreat.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Image source: iz.ru
Despite the proximity of the fighting and the danger from the sky, the territory has been cleared of mines almost from the first day.
"We get tasks in the morning, which routes need to be completed, and we go to the places," fighter Vova Maloy tells me, resting just in the break between such exits. — The main danger on the roads is "teemki" (anti—tank mines. — Izvestia). You can see them — the "hats" are sticking out of the ground. We pick it up, pull it out, and store it together, after which we eliminate it with an overhead TNT charge.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Image source: iz.ru
A tank and a special Ural MTP are buzzing on the field, they act as tow trucks for enemy and our equipment. The tank is capable of picking up and pulling out a heavier vehicle — the same "Bradley", "Stryker" or the M-113 transporter. "Ural" is a truck or an armored vehicle. As the commander of the evacuation department told me, his team's task is to first pull the car from the battlefield, and then, if possible, repair it. The ideal option is to bet on your turn.
The peculiarity of the liberated territories is the thin strands of optical fiber scattered everywhere.
— It's hard to tear, but you can break, fragile ones! — Dostoevsky is testing their strength.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Image Source: iz.ru
Optical fiber has been used at the front since the summer of 2024, most actively in the Kursk region. A coil is attached to the copter, and the "bird" is controlled by means of a beam of light in a thin wire 10-15 km long, stretching behind the tail. Such a drone does not depend on the radio signal, does not "get lost" in dense walls of buildings or lowlands, and most importantly, it is not afraid of any electronic warfare. The transparent threads lying on the ground and trees indicate the intensity of the use of fiber-optic kamikazes here, sometimes you literally have to wade through this web.
A recipe from a stormtrooper
Airat, call sign House, was among those who took these settlements. He speaks modestly about himself — "a builder from Bashkiria." His comrades present him as a "legend of the unit's stormtroopers." 52 years old. A volunteer. Four wounds. The last one is 30 holes in the body, a punctured lung, and a shattered kneecap. I interrupted my rehabilitation to get back on track.
— It's still difficult to run fast. But I can do the assignments," House says, keeping his hands on the machine.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
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He says the following about his age:
— There are quite a few of my peers among the stormtroopers. And these guys often give odds to the young. Because they've seen life, you can't just break them. They can go forward when it would seem impossible to take a step. And they go. Strong in spirit, seasoned. Plus they are prudent, sober, balanced, with a cool head.
About the main principle of an effective stormtrooper, House says: "To survive and to win, you need to constantly move." About self-improvement: "I have a free minute — train, especially if there are new guys in the "three" or "five" with you, develop coherence constantly. Stormtrooper is a science, maybe it won't work here."
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Image Source: iz.ru
The detachment learned about House near Bakhmut, where he, as part of a group, overcame 500 m of a minefield and broke into the enemy's stronghold. The battle was difficult, he was the only one left alive, but even alone he was able to destroy six soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine using a machine gun and grenades. Subsequently, the picture of this assault, taken from the Mavik, was shown in training centers as an example of effective and verified actions during an attack.
Returning back and leaving the smoking villages, we overtake a tank that is towing another captured armored personnel carrier. We let the motorcyclists go ahead, who deftly drive back and forth, as the life in the rear gets better around them. In one place, we pick up a medic friend and walk a couple of kilometers. His call sign is Orphan, from Voronezh, a hereditary military doctor. He says that yesterday he was walking in a group in a nearby forest and one of the fighters decided to sit down to rest, stepped a meter to the side off the beaten path, and there was a "petal" under his foot. The result is several fingers torn off.
— Don't turn off the track. Don't take a step away from the path," we hear the parting words once again. — And listen carefully to the sky!
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Image source: iz.ru
Obviously, getting a foothold in place and establishing a life in the frontline zone is no less difficult and dangerous than moving forward.
Sergey Prudnikov
