{"id":782292,"date":"2026-02-22T21:12:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T21:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/782292\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T21:12:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T21:12:43","slug":"the-village-where-russian-soldiers-have-a-life-expectancy-of-12-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/782292\/","title":{"rendered":"The village where Russian soldiers have a life expectancy of 12 minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are only nine high-rise buildings in the Ukrainian village of Stepnohirsk, but the battle inside them could alter the course of the war.<\/p>\n

It was once a sleepy settlement, home to only 5,000 people. Today, no civilians remain. Instead, the scorched cottages and the nine bombed-out buildings at its centre are divided between opposing armies fighting intense, house-to-house, floor-to-floor urban combat.<\/p>\n

Some 20,000 Russian troops have descended on Stepnohirsk, intent on forging a path north towards the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, 14 miles away. An industrial hub and home to the largest steelworks left in Ukrainian hands, the city is vital to the country\u2019s war effort.<\/p>\n

Stepnohirsk is the last Ukrainian stronghold before the Kinska river, a marshy tributary that narrows movement into predictable crossing points. If the Russians can cross it, they will be able to bring barrel artillery to bear on the city and bleed the life out of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe loss of Stepnohirsk would allow the enemy to overcome the natural barrier, advance artillery and unmanned assets, and shell Zaporizhzhia round the clock,\u201d says \u201cMongol\u201d, a senior officer commanding the Ferrata group, a special forces unit of HUR, Ukraine\u2019s military intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would cause panic among the civilian population and a humanitarian crisis. It would create the conditions for the occupation of Zaporizhzhia and the loss of the regional centre.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Soldiers<\/p>\n

Ukrainian drones hover over the village\u2019s cratered landscape, scanning for signs of enemy movement and relaying live feeds back to Ferrata\u2019s command centre.<\/p>\n

On one command screen, splashes of white heat mark the battle for the high-rises. No sound comes back, only greyscale pixels from a thermal imaging camera. Stripped of colour and the cacophony of combat, the explosions flower and fade in eerie silence.<\/p>\n

\"Serviceman<\/p>\n

A Ferrata serviceman in the command centre in Kyiv<\/p>\n

ANTON SHTUKA FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

On another, a Ukrainian infantryman dashes from an apartment block towards a drone dangling a package. The drone releases the bundle \u2014 ammunition and water \u2014 and the soldier vanishes into cover as soon as he has snatched it.<\/p>\n

In September 2022, President Putin declared the Zaporizhzhia region annexed. Four years later, his soldiers are still clawing forward, dying in extraordinary numbers in the attempt to make their leader\u2019s claim real.<\/p>\n

Those efforts have only accelerated as Russian diplomats talk of peace. Five Russian divisions from two armies are concentrated in the Zaporizhzhia region, an estimated 65,000 ground troops.<\/p>\n

Yet for the first time, Russian troops are being killed or wounded faster than they are being recruited, the Ukrainians claim, a claim backed by western officials. Across the entire front line, some 31,700 Russian soldiers were killed last month, according to General Syrsky, Ukraine\u2019s commander-in-chief.<\/p>\n

The battle at Stepnohirsk is being fought by elite units, a testament to its importance. The Russians have sent two paratroop divisions, a motorised rifle division and a Spetsnaz brigade to the village. Standing in their way, outnumbered roughly seven to one, are the special forces soldiers of HUR, alongside a smattering of regular infantry, drone and territorial defence units.<\/p>\n

\"Soldier<\/p>\n

The Ferrata group during target practice<\/p>\n

Mongol\u2019s Ferrata group, which works with a Ukrainian military technology company and uses artificial intelligence to support its operations, is tasked with reconnaissance, counterattacking and raiding Russian lines, forcing them back whenever they try to establish advance positions. When a group of Russians manages to infiltrate Ukrainian lines, it is Mongol\u2019s assault teams that go in to eliminate them.<\/p>\n

Mongol was in the middle of one such clearing operation when The Times visited. A group of Russians had dug in behind Ukrainian positions, threatening supply lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bad thing is they already know we\u2019re coming,\u201d he told a squad commander on a secure line. \u201cRight now the enemy is conducting additional recon there. Keep checking constantly whether the enemy is observing, and sit like mice. Full radio silence.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Ferrata reconnaissance squad had spent three days performing a covert insertion to get in close to the enemy. \u201cOur Spetsnaz is now trying to take two Russians alive as prisoners,\u201d said \u201cNine\u201d, another Ferrata officer.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Ferrata officer \u201cNine\u201d at the command centre in Kyiv<\/p>\n

ANTON SHTUKA FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

The Ukrainians called out, pretending to be Russian, and managed to lure one paratrooper out. He quickly realised his mistake, so they shot him dead. The other refused to surrender, so the group pinned him down for a first-person view (FPV) drone to finish, then withdrew.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reckon the life expectancy of one mobilised Russian here is about 12 minutes, no more,\u201d Nine said. \u201cAnd the cost of his life, in terms of shells and FPVs spent to kill him, is about $5,000-$6,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not all the group\u2019s missions run so smoothly.<\/p>\n

In December, Sergeant \u201cIce\u201d, a Ferrata squad leader, took his team of 15 special forces operators on a mission to set up observation and ambush points near a farm that had been occupied by the Russians. The enemy was threatening to flank the village, moving on from the farm to Prymorske and Lukianivske, villages either side of Stepnohirsk.<\/p>\n

Ice and his team drove part of the way, then walked in with full gear in four separate groups. \u201cWe had to walk 15km to the target. There is no ability to drive right up in an armoured vehicle \u2014 it will get destroyed [by drones] immediately,\u201d Ice said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sergeant \u201cIce\u201d in the Zaporizhzhia region<\/p>\n

ANTON SHTUKA FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

ANTON SHTUKA FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

For three days they observed the Russians from 170 metres away, he said, before they began bringing in regular infantry to man the ambush points.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my groups was guiding our neighbours towards the target, there were 300 metres left, and they were spotted by a drone. Then the incoming started. One neighbour was killed immediately \u2014 a direct hit by a drone. And my fighter too: mortar fragments wounded him and then they finished him with an FPV drone,\u201d Ice said.<\/p>\n

The remainder of the group took cover in Ice\u2019s trench, alerting the enemy to its position, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 15 minutes eight FPV drones flew into our dugout, it was already half-destroyed and started burning. Mortars and artillery were smashing the area, so we didn\u2019t leave and we didn\u2019t start putting it out \u2014 we let the enemy think we burnt up,\u201d Ice said.<\/p>\n

His men soaked the timber in their half of the trench in water to stop the flames spreading and doused their balaclavas in water to try to avoid inhaling smoke, he said. For three hours they lay under the smoke in the burning trench, before they risked an escape, making it back to safety with badly burnt limbs.<\/p>\n

\"Person<\/p>\n

Burn wounds suffered by members of Ferrata on the mission<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The two remaining groups stayed on target for a further 14 days, Ice said, hunted by Russian drones. They could not be supplied by drones so close to the enemy, so had to forage supplies from knocked-out fighting vehicles in the area when conditions allowed.<\/p>\n

The soldier killed, \u201cKind\u201d, 30, was a close friend, Nine said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of emotional to talk about,\u201d he added, before his voice trailed off. Instead, he brought out his smartphone to play video showing the men joking as they are crammed together in a small bunker. \u201cThis is us on a mission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\u201cKind\u201d, the soldier killed during the mission<\/p>\n

\"Animated<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would you say about the service here in this hotel? How is it?\u201d One soldier asks in the video. \u201cThe service is shit, but the girls are fine,\u201d comes the response, to laughter. He is surrounded only by his comrades, sweating in thermals and body armour. \u201cKind, tell us how is the local spa zone?\u201d The soldier recording asks.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is great, compared to other situations,\u201d Kind answers. \u201cThe cocktail bar has too few people, though,\u201d he says jokingly. \u201cSomething has to be done about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more dispatches from Ukraine<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Ferrata was able to halt the Russian flanking movement.This month, after Elon Musk\u2019s X agreed to a whitelist scheme that shut off Russian access to Starlink in Ukraine, the Ukrainians were able to counterattack and have begun driving them backwards, Mongol said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy exploiting significant communication problems on the enemy side after the complete shutdown of Starlink, it was possible to push them back from the settlement of Prymorske and significantly cut their advances along the former Kakhovka Reservoir,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Russians are still attacking through Stepnohirsk\u2019s centre, however. Mongol did not expect peace talks would yield any success soon. His men would fight on as long as the Russians were on Ukrainian territory, he said. \u201cOnly the destruction of manpower will reduce the enemy\u2019s combat potential. No tank, no drone moves without manpower. Our task, first and foremost, is to kill Russians.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are only nine high-rise buildings in the Ukrainian village of Stepnohirsk, but the battle inside them could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-782292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116116347650177996","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782292","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=782292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}