IRPIN, Ukraine – Every day for the past week, Russian forces have been trying to make their way through this suburb of Kyiv to reach the Ukrainian capital. And every day, Ukrainian troops force them to withdraw, leaving behind burning tanks and armored personnel carriers.
“We are going out to hunt and destroy them,” said Vladimir, head of the Ukrainian Special Forces team, while his squad, armed with a British .308 sniper rifle and British-made anti-tank weapons, awaited the latest Russian attack. “They certainly didn’t come here expecting this, expecting us to know how to fight.
Vladimir, left, with his team of Ukrainian special forces in Irpen on Friday.
The Ukrainian special forces unit carries out missions near Irpen every night.
The front lines here have largely been firm since the first day of the war, on February 24, when a Russian column was pushed north by Belarus. In some places, including the neighboring town of Bucha, the Russians have been driven out.
“Ukraine is fighting in a way that no one expected, neither the Russians nor our Western partners,” said Mikhail Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president and a member of the Kyiv delegation during the ceasefire talks with Russia. “Kyiv had to fall in three days.
This is partly because Ukraine has deployed elite special forces trained by the United States and its allies over the past few years to defend Kyiv. Armed with British NLAW and American Javelin anti-tank weapons and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, they helped blunt Russia’s advantage in aviation and long-range missiles and artillery.
But Kyiv is also holding on, because Russian forces here seem to have adhered to the tactics of large-scale Soviet-style maneuvers, moving in long convoys that are vulnerable to strikes by small reconnaissance units and the Ukrainian fleet of Turkish armed drones Bayraktar TB2, Ukrainian officers I said.
Ukrainian forces took cover from shelling in Khorenka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Friday.
Soldiers said the clouds prevented the use of Russian combat helicopters.
“We are shocked at how stupid their behavior is,” said another member of Ukraine’s special forces unit, which goes on missions in the area every night. His unit, he said, has lost two soldiers since the start of the war nine days ago and killed more than 60 Russians in recent days. “Now we are mostly focusing on hitting the back of them, their supply convoys, because if they don’t get fuel, they can’t do anything.”
Morale among Ukrainian defenders was high in Irpen on Friday, even as a Russian attack plane flew low over an apartment building and the sounds of artillery landing grew closer. Large clouds of black smoke rose north and south of the city, along other major routes where Russian forces have been trying to break into Kyiv for more than a week.
Cloudiness prevents the use of combat helicopters from Russia, soldiers said here. But to be prepared in the event of enemy helicopters or attack planes approaching, one of the soldiers took up a position with a portable anti-aircraft missile on his shoulder. Troops here say they are using their own small drones, including some with thermal cameras, to hunt Russian targets.
“The Russians keep trying to come in and surround us, but they just can’t. We are together, we are organized and we are strong-willed, “said Alena Pavlova, a native of Irpin and a soldier who helped evacuate civilians from the city on Friday. “This is a real war – and no one was really ready in the first place, because no one really believed that Russia would do something so crazy.”
Civilians fled fighting in Irpen and other Russian-controlled cities.
The children were evacuated from fighting in Irpin on Friday.
Ukrainian and foreign civilians flocked from Russian-controlled Irpen and cities outside it, moving toward Kiev’s relative security despite shelling and air strikes.
With an explosive bridge over the Irpin River, they have to go down and under a span and then move on an unsafe road, with their suitcases and pets in their hands. There was no formal agreement with Russia on the humanitarian corridor here, Ukrainian troops said, and the risk of a Russian projectile hitting the area, something that has happened before, is constant.
“I spent seven days hiding in a shelter, but today the power went out and that’s enough,” said Mihailo, a screenwriter who has been walking with two backpacks for more than an hour on the other side of Irpen, near Bucha’s next town. He declined to give his last name.
“The Russians are hitting everywhere and now it’s exploding right in front of my house,” he said. For the second time, Mihailo said he had to move. He fled his hometown of Luhansk after being captured by pro-Russian forces in 2014.
Tanya Ribko and her two children spent the whole morning walking from the town of Hostomel north of here. Russian forces control several parts of the city, while Ukrainians are stationed in others. “And tonight we were right in the middle of it all, between the two sides,” she said.
Russian troops, she added, have taken over a nearby apartment building, holding civilians hostage and seizing their phones so that residents do not call for advice from Ukrainian troops. Hungry, Russian forces are also looting local shops and homes in search of food, she said.
Civilians evacuated from Irpen on Friday. Some are seeking shelter in Kyiv’s relative safety.
The risk of a Russian projectile hitting the area is constant, Ukrainian troops said, as there is no formal agreement with Russia on a humanitarian corridor in Irpin.
Mohamed Amin, a Tunisian IT specialist, has lived in Ukraine for the past 10 years. On Friday, Mr Amin, his Ukrainian wife and their 4-year-old son, with a small tow suitcase, left the apartment they had bought in Irpin and walked for nearly an hour to the bridge, hoping to reach Kyiv and then the European union.
“I just can’t sit in the shelter anymore,” Mr Amin said breathlessly. “The Russians are just jealous. They feel defeated, so they just hit apartments with civilians in them. They know very well where civilians live. “
He pointed to Ukrainian soldiers guarding the bridge with a bright yellow ribbon on his helmets. “And these people,” he said, “they are heroes. Believe me, I’m telling the truth. “
During a Russian shelling on Friday, a fire broke out at Ukraine’s Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and sparked fears of a potential environmental disaster. The Ukrainian president called for a direct meeting with Vladimir Putin, who said the operation was going according to plan. Photo: Energoatom / Reuters
Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at [email protected]
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