by Lorenzo Cremonesi
In Bakhmut’s bunkers, where the Ukrainians confront Wagner with grenades mounted on the «Mavic». President of Ukraine and soldiers saluting in Sloviansk
FROM OUR REPORTER
BAKHMUT (Donbass) Drones are the weapon of the present. Some are complex and very expensive, such as the latest generation jets; but there are also very simple ones which can be purchased for a few hundred bucks by anyone on the market, if one then has the technical skill and ingenuity to modify them for one’s wartime needs. Ukrainian soldiers repeat it to us in their bases around the besieged city of Bakhmut: Whoever has the most efficient drones and knows how to use them best will win the war. In their laboratory bunker, they can even produce the spare parts themselves using a small 3D printer connected to the generator. «Our drones work like armed scouts, they spy on the Russians from the air and bombard them, they are able to stop the advance of the tanks; they help us against an enemy superior in man and transport, but technologically inferior and conditioned by outdated strategic concepts», they argue as commanders of the Tenth Brigade of the 108th Assault Battalion of the Mountain Troops, stationed between the dry fields Poppies and the Gentle Hills separating Bakhmut from the city of Soledar. We reached them yesterday, driving the jeep for about ten kilometers on rough tracks of frozen mud, up to a grove of trees that hides their wooden isbas and bunkers dug into the earth with old peasants’ cellars, only 4 kilometers from the Russian one front removed.
The latest news about the war in Ukraine, live
The issue is on the agenda. On Monday, Ukrainian drones, modified by military engineers to guarantee a range of more than a thousand kilometers and carry hundreds of kilos of explosives, attacked two air bases deep in Russian territory. Kyiv doesn’t officially admit it, but the fact that it was its soldiers is a given (as they also think in Moscow and all observers of military events, by the way) and helps fuel this widespread sense of euphoric contentment. In addition, yesterday there was news of another attack that hit another military airport in the Kursk region, from which missiles and jets intended for attacks on north-eastern Ukraine were launched. It is the targeted and “surgical” response to the indiscriminate attacks by the Russians, which have been relentlessly focused on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure since the second week of October.
And indeed Zelenskyy himself decided to come yesterday, here in the Donbass to Sloviansk, some twenty kilometers from the base we visited, to loudly repeat his message of challenge and determination. “Everyone can see your strength and your quality. I am grateful to your parents who raised a generation of heroes,” the President said. As he spoke, the soldiers shared his video in real time, proudly displaying the Medal of Valor their battalion had received just a few weeks ago.
In short, Kyiv is letting Moscow know that it will not sit idly by when NATO allies decide to supply weapons of excellent quality (undoubtedly better than Russia’s) but within a hundred-kilometer radius to support their If the spark for World War III ignites within Russia’s borders, it will be the Ukrainians who will build their aggressive deterrent. It’s about refining strategies that aren’t new to them. After all, in the first phase of the war, with the sound of drones, they stopped the columns attacking Kyiv and drove the Russian commandos from Snake Island across from Odessa. On April 14, their Neptun missiles sank the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and in the months that followed repeatedly attacked depots and bases between Belgorod, Rostov and the Crimean Peninsula, including raids with sea and air drones on the port of Sevastopol on October 29.
“We have named the small 80 gram grenades that we mount on commercial Mavic drones “Anti-Wagner”. They are excellent anti-personnel weapons, they hit with precision the Russians from the contractor battalions fighting here in front of us,” explains Khan, which is the nickname of the 28-year-old brigade commander. According to him, Wagner loses about 500 soldiers a month in their sector. “The report is one of our deaths for 15 of them. If they continue like this, they might be able to take Bakhmut by the end of February, but I think by then they will be completely bled,” he adds. Going into the lab bunker with them becomes a lesson in drone warfare. A monitor transmits real-time images of those flying over the Russian lines. Serghei, 24, shows how he turns a €2,000 Mavic ad into a deadly weapon. 3D print of a bracket for two grenades to hang under the device. The batteries last 15 minutes and allow you to hit within a 7-kilometer radius. He can build one every half day.
December 6, 2022 (change December 6, 2022 | 22:53)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED