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KHERSON, Ukraine — On the morning of his first crossing of the Dnieper River — the place his unit was being despatched in a determined effort to claw again occupied land from Russia — the 21-year-old Ukrainian marine awakened “able to die.”
With their counteroffensive stalled, Ukraine’s navy and political leaders have been keen to indicate their Western backers some progress — any progress.
However the 21-year-old marine, Dmytro — who’s being recognized solely by his first title in line with Ukrainian navy guidelines — recounted fording a river of demise for little reward, apart from some political messaging.
Dmytro described being “tossed like a chunk of meat to the wolves” in the course of the crossing, which takes half-hour to an hour. His account was corroborated by six others concerned within the operation to lodge a toehold on the river’s Russian-occupied east financial institution.
“We bear many losses,” mentioned one other marine, 22. “We merely lose folks, however there isn’t a outcome.”
Pissed off by stories from Ukraine’s International Affairs Ministry — which in November said that it had “managed to consolidate positions on a number of strongholds” on the Dnieper River — the marines recounted wounded troopers drowning, unable to swim with their accidents or sucked to the river backside by their heavy packs. The crossing was so harmful that the our bodies of some marines, killed within the first wave to cross the river two months in the past, have been left behind.
Ukraine doesn’t publicly disclose its variety of navy casualties and has declined to specify what number of marines have been killed within the mission, which seized again only a few sq. kilometers of land, together with a toehold within the fishing village of Krynky. A spokesman for the Ukrainian Marine Corps declined to remark: “We’re nonetheless in silence on this matter,” he mentioned.
However the navy acknowledges there have been few positive aspects. “There are not any liberated villages,” on the east financial institution, mentioned Capt. Natalya Humeniuk, head of the joint press middle of Ukraine’s Southern Protection Forces.
The entrance strains right here had barely budged because the liberation of Kherson metropolis, the regional capital, from Russian occupation in November 2022, difficult by mucky terrain and bombed-out bridges. As summer time ended, the brand new mission was launched. Aide and ammunition from the West have been at stake, as have been the lives of marines and troopers.
As Dmytro left for the crossing, he carried three tins of sardines and 6 loaves of bread, plus 100 kilos of ammunition and different gear, for an operation that was anticipated to final just a few days — if he survived that lengthy.
Simply earlier than dawn, Dmytro’s battalion approached a shallow sandbar and paired off in twos. Morning fog provided some safety from the Russian-operated drones searching them within the sky.
Their objective was to push towards Krynky — 20 miles upriver of Kherson — the place Dmytro as soon as visited together with his dad and mom. He remembered new fences and some small outlets, now simply piles of rubble.
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As his boots sunk in thick mud, he buried ideas of his spouse and their child — all gentle cheeks and new smiles. Dmytro had discovered of the mission just a few days upfront and didn’t suppose it was nicely deliberate. He didn’t know what awaited them on the east financial institution.
He didn’t suppose it was value his life.
It was a sentiment that Johnson — a 40-year-old reconnaissance crew chief whom The Washington Submit is figuring out by his name signal — knew nicely. In July, he was tasked with clearing the islands that Dmytro was about to navigate. The mission took him throughout the river six instances, most not too long ago in October. The land brimmed with particles left by the Russians — baggage of bullets, vials of painkillers, a sport of battleship product of paper and blue pen.
The reconnaissance crew struggled to navigate the shallow marshlands in boats. Johnson was typically pressured to tug the vessel 65 ft — in regards to the size of a bowling lane — to achieve deeper waters. On the east financial institution, foxholes changed into wells, he mentioned: “Just a few shovels of land and also you’ll be in water.” The positions have been shallow and exhausting to strengthen. The crew was unable to construct a hearth. Garments stayed damp and chilly.
Although the Ukrainians succeeded in taking again the islands, the price was steep. Johnson’s commander died in September in a grenade blast. The marines nonetheless crossing proceed to face extreme hazard, he mentioned.
“I feel it’s insufferable proper now,” Johnson mentioned. “I don’t need to be within the positions they’re.”
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On the riverbank, waves slapped the shore, and the marshland rippled in a brisk wind. Two pairs of troopers took off forward of Dmytro. He regarded to his companion, who cursed.
“This plan is” horrible, he mentioned utilizing an expletive.
“Nicely, are you with me?” Dmytro replied.
‘A gift from Russia’
The shelling started virtually instantly.
Communication failed, Dmytro mentioned, and the pair couldn’t contact their mortar crew to strike again. On the Ukraine Management map — which pins the situation of video-recorded missile strikes — the river is clotted with dots corroborating accounts of heavy hearth.
By 8 a.m., solely 12 of 30 marines have been unhurt. Two died.
“We couldn’t combat with individuals who had tourniquets on them,” Dmytro defined. “We needed to wait for brand spanking new folks to exchange the individuals who have been injured.”
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The archipelago of islands had offered good cowl, with tall cattails and extensive bushes. However over on the east financial institution, vegetation was sparse. The forest was closely mined, so the marines dug trenches and coated themselves with sand-filled baggage. For nearly eight hours, they waited.
“When every part explodes from all sides, you start to reside one minute at a time, and also you don’t take into consideration something in any respect,” Dmytro mentioned.
Later, different marines would journey extra steadily by boat.
“Marines who’re getting killed as we speak are the operators of the boats,” mentioned a 39-year-old with the decision signal Sawyer. “And this isn’t one thing you possibly can be taught simply. You must know tips on how to drive them, you need to know tips on how to suppose actually quick, get quicker, get out. … It is a tragedy after all.”
After these crossings, the vessels have been delivered to Vitalii Burgar’s boat store in Kherson — a Ukrainian-held metropolis scarred by steady Russian airstrikes, regardless of President Vladimir Putin’s claims that town is now a part of Russia.
Burgar, 52, repaired leisure boats for 20 years, however the conflict modified issues. Now, he’s within the enterprise of repairing bullet holes and attaching machine weapons. Lately, he restored a ship engine that had been sunk underwater for a number of months, its wiring stiff with mussels.
“You’re both within the navy or serving to the navy,” Burgar mentioned.
In mid-December, an explosive Shahed drone hit his store — “a gift from Russia,” he mentioned. However someway, the work continued.
The marines nonetheless wanted boats.
‘Horror and unrecognizability’
On the east financial institution, night fell.
With one other dozen reinforcements, the marines moved in a line towards Krynky, the group of 45 trudging alongside in clusters of two and three. Abruptly, Dmytro heard gunfire at their backs. It have to be a mistake, he thought. The reconnaissance crew had mentioned it was secure, that nobody can be round.
“Ours!” he shouted, wrongly assuming it was pleasant hearth.
It was the Russians. The marines shot again.
They survived the evening, preventing towards Krynky, the place Ukrainian forces have established a toehold within the ruins of properties, with Russian troopers close by able to seize again the land.
On the second day, a grenade exploded, sending a matchstick-sized piece of shrapnel into Dmytro’s hip and giving him a concussion.
He was evacuated — carried out over a mangled panorama. Instead of bushes, just a few sticks pierced the bottom. The riverbank was churned to connect, the our bodies of some fallen marines left behind, unable to be extricated beneath gunfire.
“The whole lot is mowed down by fragments, simply to horror and unrecognizability,” Dmytro mentioned.
No less than 5 different males died and 20 have been injured by the tip of their operation, he mentioned. He was despatched residence to get well. Upon his return, he was instructed, he can be despatched to the east financial institution once more.
Serhiy Morgunov in Warsaw contributed to this report.