The enemy on the other side of the forest can be heard when the wind blows towards the deep Ukrainian trenches. Russian voices carry the crisp cold air, as does the growl of tanks and the hum of kamikaze and reconnaissance drones.
But that’s not all that’s coming over the pines to break the disarming silence in this barren stretch of Ukraine’s defenses in Sumy, a northeastern region that shares a 560km border with Russia.
“After January 7, the shelling intensified. There has been shelling almost every day for the past 10 days,” says Lt. Col. Roman Tkach, 51. What form did the attacks come in? “The Russians fire from barrel artillery, mortar fire, the Grad rocket salvo fire system. aviation is used. They launch unguided missiles from helicopters and drop bombs from planes,” says Tkach. “Two days ago they dropped a big bomb from a plane that destroyed a house. They seem to have endless rockets.”
Tkach speaks from a tangle of trenches and machine gun posts in a position southeast of Sumy, 1,500 meters from the official Russian-Ukrainian border. His words are occasionally interrupted by the faint crackle of artillery fire somewhere farther along the line of defense.
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“It’s only small,” he says reassuringly. The Russians dumped everything here, say the soldiers. Similar statements can be heard from Ukrainian soldiers holed up across the region, where a quiet New Year has given way to a noisy, dangerous and confusing January.
On Sunday alone, four blocks of flats and 28 houses, as well as a hotel, an administrative building, a church, a gym, three shops, a cafe, a kindergarten and a post office were hit by shells in the Sumy region. A total of 88 strikes were registered in one day. Still, the past month hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary.
A gang of Russian saboteurs were caught last week trying to cross the border for unknown purposes. They fled under fire. Two weeks ago, a helicopter gunship fired seven missiles at targets just 800 meters from this position. “And rockets from a degree system hit that hill over there,” says Artem Volynko, 25, senior lieutenant of the state border guard, pointing to a completely uninhabited and inconspicuous elevation. But why? “It’s in a Ukrainian national park – maybe they wanted it to burn?”
It’s a theory, though perhaps not one of the strongest.
Lt. Col. Roman Tkach (left), Volodymyr Zhylchenko (center) and Artem Volynko (right) talk near a network of trenches just 1,500 meters from the Russian border. Photo: Ed Ram/The GuardianThere is much theorizing in the Ukrainian military about this sudden and troubling surge in activity. Because to be honest, a lot of the shelling seems completely random and chaotic. A firestorm here, a barrage there. Pot shots and drones dropping small bundles of explosives disrupt defense lines from dawn to dusk. But soldiers are not killed in significant numbers. Few pieces of military hardware are disabled. It’s probably a waste of ammo.
There is of course an explanation. The Russians were driven out of the country by Ukrainian forces in March last year after the debacle of the February 24 attack on the north. Could they try to soften Sumy’s defenses for another rift? Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, which is coordinating the country’s response to the invasion, said this week Russia is preparing for “maximum escalation, combining all possible forces” for a possible February 24 repeat the north. south and east.
Volynko was in the front line when they first came. He and 10 others manned a checkpoint in the village of Velyka Pysarivka, not far from these trenches, and was previously best known for being the site where 36 of its residents were murdered during the Nazi occupation in 1941.
A soldier keeps an eye on Russian positions. Photo: Ed Ram/The Guardian“The Russians started hitting our checkpoint with small arms, but we couldn’t see them in the dark, it was chaotic fire,” he recalls. “They also deployed under barrel grenade launchers.” They were ordered to fall back to reserve positions, but Volynko was given the task of then returning to an observation point to provide reconnaissance while the defenders attempted to gauge the extent of the invasion to get.
“There was so much Russian military equipment that the smoke from their exhaust obscured our view of the checkpoint. I couldn’t even see our checkpoint because of the big cloud of smoke.”
Artem Volynko, 25, carries a gun near the front line. Photo: Ed Ram/The GuardianIt was the start of a four-day battle in which the Russians got close to the nearest town of Okhtyrka, but were eventually pushed back, leaving a jumble of ruined villages in their wake. After seeing what weapons the Russians had last time, Volynko is skeptical that a similar attack could be imminent.
There’s activity on the other side but it seems defensive, he suggests. “The Russians can theoretically go on the offensive in this direction, but we are constantly conducting aerial reconnaissance here. And we see how they are constantly building engineering fortifications on the territory of the Belgorod region of Russia. They erect anti-tank obstacles and dig anti-tank ditches. And for us it is strange.”
Tkach has an alternative take: Sumy is trying to persuade the Ukrainian general staff that he cannot afford to move troops to Donetsk — and the city of Bakhmut in particular — to relieve Ukrainian efforts there. Zelenskyy recently admitted that the situation there is “very difficult” as Russia has reaped significant gains in recent days.
“The amount of military equipment that we now see near us on the territory of Russia does not pose a threat for a major invasion,” Tkach said. “Perhaps they want as many Ukrainian military personnel as possible to remain in these positions and not be transferred to other hotspots.”
This leaves Kyiv in a dilemma. Troops fighting in Donetsk report that they don’t have enough artillery, they are losing control of their defensive positions in the face of a Russian attack intent on destroying everything in front of them before sending infantry to clean up. Should Zelenskyy’s generals start moving their pieces? It’s a question that transcends the pay grade of those in Sumy’s trenches. Instead, it’s time to shut the hatches and hope they can continue to survive what comes next.