On July 26th, 2014, 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers are trapped behind enemy lines.
The War in Donbas is nearing its fourth month. Large swaths of the Donetsk and
Luhansk oblasts including their capitals have been seized by pro-Russian separatists. However,
the Ukrainian armed forces are in the midst of their own counter-offensive
set on isolating the rebels from their foreign support in Russia.
Since mid-June, Ukrainian forces have attempted to get the border
with Russia between Kumachove and Izvaryne under control. If the flow of military
material and personnel from Russia could be stopped, separatist strongpoints could be
neutralized. Evidence was stacking up of Russian equipment transfers,
including T-72 main battle tanks which at that point weren’t actively used by the Ukrainian army.
But in this narrow cauldron, the Ukrainians found themselves surrounded. From behind
the safety of the border, the Russian Army began targeting Ukrainian troops
with rocket and howitzer artillery. Not wanting to provoke further hostilities,
the Ukrainians could not conduct counter battery fire against this threat.
One of the most famous incidents was on July 11th at the village of Zelenopillya. At around 4am,
two battalions of the 79th Airmobile and 72nd Mechanized Brigades arrived at a tent camp
housing elements of the 24th Mechanized Brigade and border guards. Under surveillance by Russian
Orlan-10 drones, they came under Grad rocket artillery fire within 20 minutes. Up to two
battalions worth of equipment were destroyed. Satellite imagery suggests a Russian BM-21 Grad
battalion crossed a couple hundred meters into Ukraine(47.869141, 39.339403), fired their salvo
and retreated back into Russian territory. Imagery from August of 2014 shows distinct
burn marks inline with the destroyed Ukrainian BTGs with tire tracks surrounding the area. This
short cross-border excursion was presumably to pin the attack on separtists from within Ukraine.
In addition to Russian artillery entering the fight, the key settlements of Dmytrivka
and Stepanivka fell into militant hands in June and July. This left the more than five Ukrainian
battalions cut off on the eastern bank of the Mius River, trapped between separatist
held towns and Russian artillery. It became clear in July that these
forces had to be withdrawn. But with lines of communication cut, this required offensive action.
A plan was developed for the various units in the pocket to withdraw west and link up
with Ukrainian forces. Meanwhile, a mechanized task force from the west
would conduct a raid through enemy territory to secure a route out.
The operation called for the 1st Battalion Tactical Group or BTG of the 25th Airborne
Brigade under Major Yevhen Moysyuk to establish a blocking position between the militant held towns
of Shakhtarsk and Torez. This would allow the 95th Airmobile Brigade to bypass Shakhtarsk on
the way to their objective, and fix militant forces in place so elements of the 30th and
51st Mechanized Brigades could link up from the south. After their rendezvouz, the 30th and 95th
brigades would seize the strategic height Savur-Mohlya and a crossing over the Mius
River. This combined element was led by Colonel Mykhaylo Zabrodsky, commander of the 95th. Key
subunits included 1st Battalion, 95th Brigade under Major Ihor Herasymenko; 13th Battalion,
95th Brigade under Captain Oleksandr Porkhun; and 1st BTG, 30th Brigade under Major Serhii Sobko.
After the trapped units were withdrawn, the raid force would continue on north,
cutting Highways M03 and H21 connecting the Russian city of Shakhty with the interior of
Donetsk and the western parts of Luhansk. In addition to rescuing the Ukrainians trapped on
the border, the operation would also drive a wedge between the DNR, LNR and Russia.
[ July 26-28, Shakhtarsk & Savur-Mohyla ]
On July 26th, the 25th Airborne Brigade's 1st BTG gathered at Artemivsk, now called Bakhmut.
The understrength force was built on the 25th’s 1st battalion, with roughly 250 men carried on
sixteen BMD-2 airborne infantry fighting vehicles. It was supported by 3 ZU-23 AA
pieces and three Nona-S self-propelled mortars, as well as two tanks from the 17th Tank Brigade.
On their way south, they bypassed Debaltseve and pushed through multiple ambushes.
After encamping overnight near Kam'yanka, the battalion continued south, setting up
a defensive position in the southeastern outskirts of Shakhtarsk. However, the DNR militants diverted
forces from surrounding towns to defend it, including Grad rocket artillery and tanks.
Separatists began to shell Ukrainian positions with mortars and D-30 howitzers, masking their
positions among the city’s residences. For the next 5 days, the 25th would be engaged
in near constant, close quarters street battles against large amounts of separatist infantry.
Meanwhile, the 95th Airmobile Brigade drove through the 4 kilometer gap between Shahkhtarsk
and Torez. Part of Ukraine’s VDV, they were among Ukraine’s most elite infantry formations. Although
they were lighter paratroopers mounted on DShk armed Humvees, the 95th had been
recently equipped with some BTR-80 armored personnel carriers and other armor as well.
Porkhun led the 13th Battalion through the village of Hirne straddling highway H21. The head of the
13th’s column passed through unharmed. However, just over the railroad tracks, the following
column was ambushed by a separatist outpost. This left parts of the 13th battalion cut off.
After acquiring a pair of tanks from Zabrodsky,
Porkhun was able to defeat this ambush and held the intersection for another
two and a half hours. The rest of the brigade successfully passed through towards Petrivs'ke.
Meanwhile, from the south, two battalion tactical groups and artillery from the 30th and 51st
Mechanized Brigades advanced from Kuteynikove through Blahodatne to link up with the 95th.
The 30th was one Ukraine’s fully manned brigades,
and all four of its maneuver battalions would be involved in the operation in some manner.
As the decisive unit of the operation, Zabrodsky's first task was to secure the
strategic height at Savur-Mohyla. Atop the hill was an obelisk memorializing fallen
Soviet soldiers who died wresting it from the Germans during the August 1943 Donbas offensive.
At 278 meters above sea level, it served as an observation post during the Second World War,
and from June to August 2014 was fought over between the Ukrainians and DNR separatists.
On the morning of July 28th, the 30th Brigade’s 1st BTG and the 95th Airmobile
Brigade made a frontal attack on the height from the direction of
Pervomais’ke. With the BMP-2s and T-64s of the 30th Brigade leading,
the Ukrainians organized themselves in a classic Soviet attack formation with echelon left.
Perhaps carried by the audacity of the attack rather than its elegance,
the height was under Ukrainian control within 30 minutes.
But, what followed was a salvo of massed rocket artillery fired from across the Russian border,
which inflicted major casualties on the 30th and 95th brigades. According to the head of
the 95th’s medical department, nearly all ambulances were used to evacuate casualties.
Bruised from the barrage, BTG Colossus from the 51st Mechanized Brigade replaced the 30th and 95th
on the evening of the 28th. Zabrodsky’s force was moving on to Stepanivka on their drive to the Mius
River. However, left entirely exposed to artillery on Savur-Mohyla, the 51st ceded the height to the
separatists at 4am on July 29th. There’d be multiple battles for Savur-Moyhla to follow.
[ August 1-7, Crossing the Mius ]
From August 1st, elements of the 30th and 95th brigades began a battle for Stepanivka. With the
30th Brigade’s BTG in front, the force gained a foothold in the city’s southwestern approach
within a couple hours. However, faced with a large militant force and hostile population,
the Ukrainians were under threat of being bogged down.
On the fourth, it was decided to attack the settlement on foot. Bisected by a river,
Porkhun’s 13th Battalion would take one side of the river while Sobko’s 1st BTG
would take the other. By the 5th of August, the Ukrainians had fully captured the city.
The next day, the 30th Brigade’s 7th company under Captain Denis Bocharov arrived in Stepanivka,
having been newly formed in the Kherson region. Almost immediately,
they were ordered to secure the intersection and high ground to
Stepanivka’s east as the final stepping stone before hitting the Mius River.
To accomplish this, Bocharov led a platoon-sized detachment to take the road junction, but 600
meters away they were ambushed by a separatist APC. The Ukrainians were raked by heavy machine
gun fire, fatally wounding Bocharov. Five or six militants in civilian clothes appeared at
the intersection and began firing on the column. Platoon Commander Mykhailo Kirdan took command of
the force and with the help of a tank, seized the junction and held it under rocket artillery fire.
Mius Crossing Meanwhile, on the other side of the Mius,
a company tactical group of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade was preparing to link up at a bridgehead.
The combined force had chosen a section three kilometers north of Dmytrivka,
partially shielded from artillery by its steep banks.
The 13th Separate Battalion under Porkhun established a pontoon bridge near Lisne, while
Sobko’s 1st BTG secured an old concrete dam south of Miusynsk. However, there were some setbacks.
First, the Ukrainian float bridges were 3 meters short from spanning the river,
requiring troops to hastily cut down trees to make up the difference. Second,
the bridge was intentionally flooded to conceal it from artillery observation.
Setting up two crossings allowed for the retreating forces to split their convoys,
speeding up the process, particularly with the dam being easier to traverse.
The crossings commenced at sunset on the 6th. They were heavily targeted by enemy artillery,
including Russian howitzers and Grads firing from across the border. While the Ukrainians
did take losses during the crossing from 6 to 7 August, most equipment was dispersed
enough to avoid catastrophic losses like they had experienced at Zelenopillya.
[ August 8-10, Closing the Circle ]
With the raid’s main objective complete, the next phase was to isolate the separatists in
the west by cutting their lines of communication. This would require
the 95th Airmobile Brigade to cut even deeper into enemy territory.
On the 8th of August, the 95th Brigade and 30th Brigade’s 1st BTG were relieved at
Stepanivka by the 30th Brigade’s 3rd BTG and Tank Battalion. From there,
they drove north towards Miusynsk and Krasny Luch. As a result of the battles there, the Ukrainians
cut highway M03 between Krasny Luch and Antratsyt. The 30th Brigade’s 1st BTG and the 72nd Brigade’s
7th Company were tasked with maintaining the corridor between Krasny Luch and Stepanivka.
The 95th Brigade continued on though, driving through Chervona Polyana and
destroying separatist roadblocks along the way. The 95th linked
up with the 30th Brigade’s 2nd battalion tactical group before reaching Lutuhyne,
essentially cutting off all Donetsk separatists from Russia. Simultaneously, the encirclement
of Luhansk city to the northeast was nearing completion. Although the Ukrainians ceded the
border crossings in southern Luhansk oblast, the centers of gravity were the population centers.
On August 10th, with the ATO’s reserves committed and 95th Brigade’s mission complete,
it was ordered to return to its original start point at Slovyansk
to refit. By this point the brigade had lost almost half of its vehicles,
and some units were riding with almost 20 or 30 troops on one BTR.
Colonel Zabrodsky remarked that the endeavour was "some serious advertising for the BTR-80" because
by the time his vehicle had finished the last leg through enemy territory,
it was running on only four of its eight original wheels.
All in all, the brigade traveled about 470 kilometers over 15 days,
170 of which were through enemy territory. It’s lauded as one of if not the longest
armored raids in history., as well as one of the largest, being conducted at brigade-strength.
As a result of the operation, there was optimism that a major victory against the separatists in
Donbas could be achieved within weeks. With the supply of weapons and militants from Russia cut
off, the Ukrainians could besiege pockets of rebels and avoid a costly urban slugfest.
However, this was not to be. In the face of Ukrainian fortunes,
Russia began a large-scale, overt invasion on the 24th of August.
While its previous contribution of fighters had been plausibly deniable as civilian volunteers,
at the end of August Russia deployed up to eight battalion tactical groups to Donbas.
This injection of regular forces caused an immediate turnaround. With such crushing
defeats as at the Battle of Ilovaisk and the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport following,
and the advance of enemy forces to the outskirts of Mariupol,
the Ukrainians were not able to end the current conflict in 2014.
The status quo that followed, with much of Luhansk and Donetsk under separatist control,
would not be reversed before Russia’s 2022 escalation.
If you want further coverage of the Ukraine conflict,
check out this video where I cover one of Russia’s better
brigades and its movements during both 2014 and 2022. I’ll see you over there.