Extract from ABC News
Oleksandra, 34, was a graphic artist before she became a drone pilot in Ukraine's armed forces.
Oleksandr, 57, co-owned a company that made elevators, but is now a driver in a mortar unit, ferrying soldiers and ammunition to and from frontline positions.
They both serve in the 117th Mechanized Brigade, but share another special bond: they're father and daughter.
"The worst thing is when everyone leaves the zero point [the forward edge of the battlefront] and you see that not everyone comes back," says Oleksandra, who calls her father each day to make sure he's one of the lucky ones who returns.
"One day I called him, and he said the car wheel punctured twice under mortar fire, but everything was fine.
"He changed the wheel, on the route called 'Death Road', where absolutely everything is fired upon."
Each day her father goes through the same angst.
"It's very difficult because you're worried about her, that she's safe, and that's impossible in the war," he says.
"Especially since she is on the front line with her job almost all the time. It is very difficult waiting for her to get out of there alive and well."
The 117th Mechanized Brigade formed out of the 15th Rifle Battalion that defended the family's home city of Sumy following Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
Sumy is close to the Russian border in Ukraine's north-east.
Parts of the region were under occupation in the initial stages of the conflict, but the citizens of Sumy refused to surrender and their city was never captured.
The resistance from the 15th Rifle Battalion and other volunteer fighters was fierce.
Russian forces encircled the the city, but the residents held Sumy for nearly six weeks before Vladimir Putin's troops were forced to withdraw.
Oleksandr signed up to defend his city and country on the first day of the full-scale war with his friend and work colleague Yevhen.
The pair owned and ran an elevator company called Sumy Lifts. The business was soon operating as a de-facto recruitment centre and weapons storage facility.
"On the first day, workers came with their families, it was cold. They started making Molotov cocktails," Yevhen says.
On the first day around 50 people turned up, on the second, about 300 arrived.
"Four days later, about 1,000 people were already standing, lining up for weapons," the 54-year-old says.
Yevhen now serves with his 26-year-old son Artur in the 117th Mechanized Brigade, continuing the family connection in the unit.
They have been operating on the frontlines in Ukraine's counteroffensive since June.
Artur is the acting commander of a mortar battery.
"Roughly speaking, my father is my subordinate," he says.
"But he is always a commander to me and always a mentor.
"He always helps me with his experience in how to conduct combat operations, because since 2014, he has been fighting against Russia."
Yevhen says he is proud to serve with his son.
"I also have a second son. He is 16 years old, and he said that as soon as he reaches 18 years old, he will also join us. I'm proud. Very proud."
'It's hell, to be honest'
The 117th Mechanized Brigade is made up of all walks of life. It even has its own history professor.
Alexander has a PhD in philosophy and before the full-scale invasion taught history at the Sumy State Pedagogical University.
"I know that there is time to study history and time to make history," he says with a smile.
Now he's a junior sergeant and unit leader. He says he has lost a lot of his comrades since the counteroffensive began.
"During one of our last combat tasks. The boys were sitting in a nearby trench and 120 mortars flew in there.
"I was concussed. I asked the guys how they were, I didn't hear anything. I looked out of the trench, and there was nothing there anymore."
Operating inside an infantry company, Oleksandra stares death in the face each day through the drone screens she monitors.
"It's hell, to be honest," she says.
"If you see it from the screen, sitting literally 200 metres from the event, how mortar shelling kills your brothers.
"You never come back normal, the way you were before."
While Ukraine pioneered drone use in the early stages of the full-scale war, Russia has been busy catching up and now has more first person view (FPV) drones than its opponent on the southern front.
FPV drones are cheap, and Russia has been buying masses of them from China. Alexander says the drones have been causing havoc on the frontlines.
"These Kamikaze drones have a specific sound, which is similar to the sound of mosquitoes. You can see the explosive attached to the drone. It's very different from a regular reconnaissance drone. It's quite unpleasant," he says.
"There was a case where we had to evacuate our dead comrades from the battlefield under enemy drones. We took turns, because it was very difficult."
"Some of our guys have died because of drones. There is nowhere to hide."
When Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in June, there were high hopes that its armed forces would be able to punch through Russia's defensive lines and reach the occupied cities of Tokmak and Melitopol, cutting Russian forces in half and strangling its supply lines.
The soldiers from the 117th say the slower-than-hoped-for delivery of Western weapons and ammunition allowed Russia to spend months fortifying its defensive lines with minefields, trenches and anti-tank ditches.
That has made progress difficult.
"The minefields they have built and the structures they have now are very serious," says Yevhen.
"When we entered the enemy's position, their dugouts were blocked with rails and then reinforced with concrete."
Oleksandra says they need more help from the west to combat Russia's superiority in the air.
"They have a lot of quadcopters, FPV's, attack drones. They have a lot of planes going up. More than 30 aerial bombs fall every day just in our sector. That is, an aerial bomb that falls 5 metres near you," she says.
"We still have very weak air defence. And we really need this help."
Despite the challenges they have faced, the men and women of the 117th still believe they can achieve their mission.
"We will definitely get to Tokmak and Melitopol," says Yevhen, fire burning in his eyes.
"Even if with today's weapons, it will be difficult, but we will reach the country.
"I'll tell you more. We are ready to fight. We will fight. And we will reclaim our territory."
Alexander acknowledges that Russia's air superiority and its ability to see Ukraine's movements via reconnaissance drones makes it hard to advance, but he still believes the men and women of the 117th will triumph on the southern front.
"Of course, we have not lost hope, as we have not lost hope for victory. What are we here for? Someday it will happen, but not as quickly as we wanted."
Before the history professor returns to service, he has one last thing he wants to say.
"Our people fight not only for our independence, for our language, for our church, for our right to live. We fight for human rights and freedom," Alexander says.
"The Russian people are not used to freedom. They try to take it away from us. When we fight for our rights, for our country, we fight for the values of the free world."
No comments:
Post a Comment