Could Ukraine’s army retake the strategic southern metropolis of Kherson? Officers and troopers close to the entrance line say the counter-offensive is already underway.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Ukraine’s army is waging its first major offensive against the Russians. It’s pushing to retake a strategic metropolis within the south known as Kherson. The preventing is brutal, and Ukrainian troopers are paying a horrible value to liberate an enormous area of occupied territory close to the Black Sea. NPR’s Brian Mann traveled shut to the frontlines to speak with these troopers. And only a phrase of warning – his story accommodates moments of violence that could be disturbing for some listeners.
(CROSSTALK)
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Midmorning, we drive previous bunkers and sandbag partitions on the outskirts of Apostolove, a half-empty industrial city northeast of Kherson.
We’re out on what’s actually the navy frontier now. There are villages nonetheless round. You see civilians, however there are additionally checkpoints in all places and fortified positions.
Our objective right here is to see and listen to what it is like day to day for hundreds of Ukrainian troopers, a lot of them civilians only a few months in the past, who reside and struggle on this southern entrance. The first cease is a spot hidden on the sting of an deserted manufacturing unit the place Ukrainian troopers are introduced after they’re injured. A burly man with a black beard who calls himself Doc waits behind a giant army ambulance.
DOC: (Non-English language spoken).
MANN: He grins and says, “there are no patients here now.” But he thumps the medical gear strapped to his physique armor and says he is prepared.
DOC: (Non-English language spoken).
MANN: He says, “when wounded soldiers arrive, they’re often in a very bad state, often hit by Russian artillery.” He has to work quick to stabilize the lads earlier than transporting them onto a navy hospital. As the offensive continues towards Kherson, Doc says issues will solely worsen with extra casualties. The day after our journey, the Ukrainian navy informed NPR 26 wounded troopers have been introduced right here for care.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARTILLERY FIRING)
MANN: The troopers inform us that is the sound of Russian tanks firing within the distance. For weeks, components of Ukraine’s army have been pushing ahead alongside an enormous arc of territory towards Kherson. U.S. and British intelligence studies say it is working. Russia is again on its heels right here underneath monumental strain. But progress has been grudging and dear, and either side have scored hits.
OLEKSANDR LYTVYNOV: (Non-English language spoken).
MANN: That’s a Ukrainian army major named Oleksandr Lytvynov. He’s a man with a sort face in his 50s who labored as a chauffeur earlier than the warfare.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
MANN: He’s taken us ahead just a few kilometers nearer to the act of preventing to an remark publish and bunker subsequent to a small orchard the place he was stationed. Lytvynov says he is volunteered to present us this place as a result of it is essential individuals know what he and his fellow troopers are going through.
LYTVYNOV: (Non-English language spoken).
MANN: Lytvynov says he was right here when Russians hit them repeatedly with bunker-buster artillery shells after which a missile. “It was deafening,” he says. He reveals us a crater a dozen yards throughout, then shrugs and says they have been fortunate. The Russian goal was just a bit off.
LYTVYNOV: Next location.
MANN: We climb subsequent right into a pair of battered SUVs pushed by Ukrainian troopers.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR DOOR CLOSING)
MANN: Ukraine’s army has stipulated NPR can solely go ahead from this level to speak to troopers if we experience of their convoy. So Major Lytvynov drives. He factors to farm fields the place the bronze-yellow wheat will go unharvested. He says, “it’s too dangerous. All the farmers have fled.”
We’re transferring shortly now as a result of we’re within the open right here, and loads of the Russian artillery does have the capability and the vary to hit right here. So what he did say is that they haven’t seen spotter drones at this time.
The panorama seems eerily empty, scarred by craters and shell-damaged buildings. Lytvynov tells us it is simple to get misplaced out right here on winding farm roads amongst scattered villages and industrial websites. The precise level of contact between Russian and Ukrainian troops is typically unclear daily.
So as we’re climbing out of the automobiles right here, I can hear the tank fireplace once more within the distance.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARTILLERY FIRING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
MANN: Hello. Brian.
Two Ukrainian troopers seem from the opposite automotive and determine themselves as Victor and Serhiy. They carry assault rifles with further magazines strapped to their armor. One wears a camouflage bandana over his shaved head.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
MANN: They lead us right into a strip of thick forest to the ditch they occupied for months.
VICTOR: (Non-English language spoken).
MANN: They say they have been down on this gap getting hammered by Russian tanks and mortars, generally for a month at a time, typically with no approach to struggle again.
SERHIY: (Non-English language spoken).
MANN: They inform me it was scary to be underneath fireplace, however they are saying the expertise differs soldier to soldier. “Sometimes,” they are saying, “the fear just disappears. Other soldiers are always scared. It never goes away.”
I climb down by means of the slender gap. The trench does not really feel protected. It smells of uncooked dust. The minimize logs used to construct a sheltering roof are low, claustrophobic. This trench is not getting used proper now, however there are nonetheless bottles of water, ammunition caches and different provides. Victor and Serhiy inform me the frontline has moved ahead from right here. They provide to take us nearer to lively preventing, however we declined for security causes. I ask if they’re going to use this trench once more if the Russians push again.
VICTOR: (Non-English language spoken).
MANN: “Maybe,” they are saying. But they’re satisfied that will not occur. They suppose they’ve the Russians on the run as Ukraine’s army pushes towards Kherson. But then one thing occurs that reveals how unsure, how harmful issues are right here.
VICTOR: (Non-English language spoken).
MANN: Victor and Serhiy say they’ve detected a Russian reconnaissance drone working overhead. I do not see it or hear it, however they are saying it is hovering above the tree cover. If it noticed us, we might be threatened by artillery or snipers. After a couple of minutes’ wait, we go away the forest shortly, scrambling again to the car.
You’re in entrance.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR DOORS OPENING)
MANN: The troopers are clearly involved. Major Lytvynov, our information and driver, grips the steering wheel, going a lot quicker over the rutted tractor highway, attempting to get us out of there. Then, all of the sudden, he loses management.
(SOUNDBITE OF MICROPHONE STATIC)
MANN: My audio recorder catches the second, the sound of the automotive hitting a tree. My leg is damaged. My safety adviser is additionally injured. And our driver, Major Oleksandr Lytvynov, is killed within the crash.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
MANN: We’re evacuated swiftly by Ukrainian medics and troopers, together with Doc, the sphere medic we met earlier within the day. They take care of us and take us to a navy hospital a protected distance from the road.
Later, the Ukrainian navy will inform us they consider their two automobiles have been really underneath fireplace by the Russians. We did not hear or see that. What we did see is how harmful that world is – how shortly a stretch of forest or a farm discipline or a village avenue can flip lethal. We additionally see the horrible value Ukrainian troopers, volunteers like Oleksandr Lytvynov, are paying day after day as they wrestle to push the Russian army again from their nation. Brian Mann, NPR News, close to Kherson.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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