{"id":358786,"date":"2025-08-20T06:53:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T06:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/358786\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T06:53:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T06:53:15","slug":"it-would-be-a-terrible-loss-ukrainian-frontline-troops-sceptical-of-ceding-land-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/358786\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It would be a terrible loss\u2019: Ukrainian frontline troops sceptical of ceding land | Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over dinner on Monday, a simple barbecue of meat and roasted vegetables, the soldiers of Ukraine\u2019s 150th reconnaissance and strike battalion have other things on their mind. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in the White House and Donald Trump has just promised to give Ukraine<\/a> \u201cvery good protection\u201d.<\/p>\n

When this development is passed on to the group around, one of the soldiers pipes up \u201cFrom who?\u201d and laughs, such is the uncertainty about who the US really supports. But in reality the troops are not following the news closely. After three and half years, the war has its own momentum, technology and schedule.<\/p>\n

Soon after, a squad of soldiers drive out with a bomber drone into the night. It is assembled on the edge of a field where the sunflowers are nearly at their fullest extent. Two 3.5kg explosives are inserted, then wings and nose are attached, before it is launched from a catapult. Then, immediately, it is time to pack up and leave. \u201cThe most dangerous time is after launch,\u201d a crew member says, wary of Russian surveillance quickly spotting the drone after takeoff.<\/p>\n

Sunset over a Vector reconnaissance drone before launch. Photograph: Julia Kochetova\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

On the horizon, whatever the politicians discuss, there is no sign of the fighting easing. The frontline Ukrainian village of Dobropillia, now targeted by Russian bombing, is about 6 miles away. At one point there is a sequence of orange light flashes in the distance. Later, tracer bullets are visible against the clear sky \u2013 judging by the location, probably from Ukrainians trying to shoot down a Russian drone.<\/p>\n

Dobropillia Map<\/a><\/p>\n

On Tuesday morning, Donetsk officials said one person was killed and three injured in Dobropillia; three more were killed and four injured in Kostiantynivka, a town 30 miles to the east at risk of being surrounded. Russian soldiers had mounted 67 attacks in the area near Dobropillia in the previous 24 hours.<\/p>\n

The 150th tries to prevent Russian buildups and destroy its logistics before an expected autumn offensive.<\/p>\n

Denys Bryzhatyi, the battalion commander, a 32-year-old former law student who has risen rapidly up the ranks, says he is \u201cwithout politics\u201d when asked if there is a price worth paying by Ukraine to secure peace. But when pressed he says handing over the rest of Donetsk province, a demand of Vladimir Putin, could be a long-term disaster for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Denys Bryzhatyi, the battalion commander, poses for a portrait at the command point. Photograph: Julia Kochetova\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cThe loss of Donetsk region, the area that is heavily fortified against Russia, will just open up new directions for further advances \u2013 Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, which are not well fortified. It would be a huge and terrible loss of positions,\u201d the commander warns.<\/p>\n

Driving around the region new defensive trenches are visible, a second line against a slow Russian advance, filled with concrete dragon\u2019s teeth and barbed wire. They are part of what would be given away.<\/p>\n

The bomber used by the night squad, an Airplast that could be mistaken for a large model aircraft, is a type used to attack buildings as far as 25 miles away. The drone\u2019s flight is pre-programmed and each night the bomber drone crew may fly half a dozen missions, with targets having been selected earlier in the day by another unit from the 150th, based on separate reconnaissance drone missions carried out by troops in the same battalion.<\/p>\n

A soldier prepares an Airplast drone for a night mission. Photograph: Julia Kochetova\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

In the late afternoon, the day crew heads out with a German-made Vector drone. They set off as briskly as the rough roads allow, and arrive at a carefully made concrete dugout that is hard to see until you are close up. Getting going requires more than half an hour of setup: first the internet connection has to be established via Starlink, then a base station for the drone is wired up, before finally the Vector makes a vertical takeoff. After a few seconds it can no longer be heard.<\/p>\n

One of the crew has the job of monitoring signals from Russian first-person-view (FPV) drones, feared because their pilots are adept at flying their exploding craft into people and vehicles at speed. A small display periodically descends into static, meaning a drone is near. If a picture emerges it means an enemy drone is close, because each side can see the other\u2019s FPV feeds. At one point it is thought we have been spotted. There is a hasty rush into the bunker, though the threat goes away.<\/p>\n

The crew of the 150th reconnaissance and strike battalion assembles a bomb. Photograph: Julia Kochetova\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Below, a couple of crew members analyse the footage from the Vector. The footage is of extraordinary quality. \u201cThe lens cost $30,000,\u201d the team leader, Kyrylo, explains. The pilot uses an unbranded Xbox controller. Once a target of interest is spotted, it can be clicked and locked on to. \u201cWarfare is changing dramatically; we need to be more vigilant and adapt even quicker,\u201d says Kyrylo, who has been fighting the Russians since 2014, when Ukraine\u2019s army was in a chaotic mess.<\/p>\n

Ukraine Donbas map<\/a><\/p>\n

Bomb casings and other key components are made with a score or more of 3D printers by members of the 150th in the rear. The munitions they use, including in the Airplast bomber, are largely assembled at a second location where plastic explosive is inserted with shrapnel into the 3D-printed tubes at a rate, if necessary, of 100 in a hour \u2013 a military-industrial activity that is if anything accelerating.<\/p>\n

Kyrylo (right) inside a bunker that is used as shelter for the crew. Photograph: Julia Kochetova\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

It is hardly surprising that Ukraine\u2019s military does not consider itself close to defeat. Puma (Ukraine\u2019s military only allows call signs or first names to be used), a soldier from Luhansk, which is now occupied by Russian forces, survived being shot twice in the chest on a reconnaissance operation in 2016, his life saved by his body armour. He remains involved in the most dangerous form of reconnaissance against the Russian invaders: on the ground.<\/p>\n

A week or so earlier, Puma was involved in an initial effort to find Russian infiltrators who had broken through the lines near Dobropillia. Several villages were cleared, he says, but a colleague was killed when a grenade thrown by a Russian bounced off a tree \u2013 a reminder that for all the innovation by drone, the war remains hard fought.<\/p>\n

Puma says he finds the diplomatic discussions a distraction. Another colleague, Optimus, is more forthright. \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of giving up Donetsk [region] to Russia?\u201d he says. \u201cAfter all the sacrifices we have made, the people we have lost? If we were going to do that, we could have done it right at the beginning of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over dinner on Monday, a simple barbecue of meat and roasted vegetables, the soldiers of Ukraine\u2019s 150th reconnaissance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-358786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115059779401521784","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}