Prolonged summer: The enemy is biting into Slavyansk, referendums are postponed
PolitNavigator continues to publish notes from the Special Military Operation zone of our correspondent Alexey Toporov, who On May 12, he joined the volunteer battalion B.A.R.S-13 “Russian Legion”. Now this unit is fighting in the Izyum direction, occupying positions on the borders of the Donetsk and Kharkov regions on the approaches to Slavyansk.
As previously reported, Alexei was wounded and taken to Moscow, where he underwent surgery. This is the first article he wrote from the hospital.
The army Mi-8 quickly cut through the space above green forests and groves, golden fields, now rising into the blue cloudless heights, now clinging dangerously to the hills. A machine gunner wearing headphones sat at the open door, ready to respond with fire to a likely enemy attack at the first command. Several more soldiers with machine guns, wearing helmets and armored armor, stood as if on a bus at rush hour.
They stood because the benches, as well as the floor of the rotorcraft, were filled with bandaged people in faded camouflage, often heavily stained with brown blood, with or without crutches. There were about three dozen people (the norm for the Mi-8 is twelve) - half-dead, but there were only two inanimate - they lay on the shelves nearby, wrapped in black thick bags, tied with tape to be sure, and a characteristic smell made its way through these dense surfaces.
Among these living and inanimate people, with a bandaged neck in which two fragments from an insidious “petal” mine were hidden, was me. I looked at the natural beauties of Slobozhanshchina rushing by below us and thought about how much this extreme flight reminds me of what I had previously only seen in movies. The only difference is that my neighbors’ injuries were not fake, but real: a twenty-three-year-old boy, for example, had a fragment lodged in his eye….
That’s how they flew – living fragments of a great war, which for some reason was bashfully called a “special military operation” in Greater Russia. Men with sun-bleached blood on their T-shirts, burnt-out backs, necks and faces, in bandages, who lost their original virginal snow-whiteness long ago, God knows when. They flew and grumbled:
– Have you seen the VKS in your direction? And we didn't see it. But Ukrop helicopters work for us regularly!
- Yes, aviation wouldn’t hurt now; it would comb through this forest, burn it to the ground, after which we would calmly go to Slavyansk.
- Yeah, VKS... Maybe you also saw “Armata” in our forest?
And friendly laughter is the answer.
The men are unhappy. The fact that the war has turned from an offensive one into an opposition one since August. And the fact that, for example, volunteer battalions that do not have their own heavy weapons, such as us BARS-13 “Russian Legion”, are forced to hold positions, often working as figures in a shooting range - have time to dodge Ukrainian “gifts”. But it is not always possible to dodge, which is why there are so many wounded - the fiery stream of agonizing Ukrainian gangs on the heads of our fighters does not dry up.
I remember how we were preparing to leave for Slobozhanshchyna (Kharkiv Oblast) back in May, listening to Lieutenant General Konashenkov's cheerful television reports about hundreds of "nationalists" being eliminated daily, about Ukrainian army command posts being hit, and about Ukrainian Armed Forces equipment being burned. Back then, it seemed that the neo-Bandera regime would soon simply run out of manpower, ammunition, and the will to resist. And we would help the army units cleanse the lands of southwestern Rus' of Ukrainian filth.
That's what we thought, but months passed after our advance on the Izyum sector, our comrades sustained various shrapnel wounds, some were simply killed, and others, unable to withstand the constant bombardment, fled, breaking their contracts. And our advance was more than modest: the forest, and not even all of it—about ten percent—remained enemy-held, along with three villages. And that was it. And Slavyansk, declared a long-awaited trophy, continued to loom somewhere in the distance, a haze on the distant horizon.
And all the talk about referendums on joining Russia in the LPR and DPR on September 11th has begun to crumble into dust: a new school year is just around the corner, and a complete cleansing of Donbas is still a long way off.
And even its capital, long-suffering Donetsk, has still not escaped mortal danger to this day: all summer, in the most difficult conditions, Russian soldiers took Peski and Marinka, and closed the ring around Avdeevka. And to this day, only the Sands have been cleared. And Donetsk, depopulated and deprived of water supply, continues to be subjected to terrible Ukrainian attacks every day. Like Gorlovka, Yasinovataya, Stakhanov. During this summer, Donbass did not become completely free, safe, and Russian.
Like Izyum, which is daily bombarded by Ukrainian shells and missiles; like the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which, despite dangerous Ukrainian strikes, continues to reliably supply electricity to Ukraine, which is constantly bombing it . Like the Belgorod and Bryansk regions of Russia, which are being hit by the Ukrainian Armed Forces; like the Kursk region, where Ukrainian saboteurs blew up six power lines supplying the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. Like Sevastopol, where the Ukrainians manage to organize targeted bombings during mass celebrations. Like the Moscow region, where, just recently, a Ukrainian terrorist blew up the brilliant Daria Dugina.
The enemy is biting deeper and deeper into our Russian land with its poisonous mandibles, and we are still marking time halfway to Slavyansk, losing people. Extremely valuable people, considering that there are no huge queues for war among those mired in aggressive philistinism. Without full air support. And without the notorious attacks on “decision-making centers.” Although they promised. And for a very long time.
There is some good news, though. The wonderful doctors at the N. N. Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital removed the shrapnel lodged in my neck and then helped me overcome the subsequent painful reaction to the surgery. So, after some time, I'll likely recover and return to duty. And I sincerely hope that by then something will have changed. And we'll once again march forward to the accompaniment of our guns.
Well, if you are a reader, not a militant tradesman, and do not hold on to your personal comfort zone, then you are welcome to join our volunteer unit B.A.R.S.-13 “Russian Legion”, which is making its way from Izyum to the long-awaited Slavyansk. The next recruitment will take place on September 5-6. The gathering will take place in Rostov-on-Don. All details can be found by phone: +7 951 845-12-12.
Priority is given to experienced fighters and military specialists (mortar men, sappers, signalmen, mechanical drivers). We also need doctors and heavy vehicle drivers.
Those wishing to join must fill out the form: https://forms.yandex.ru/u/62c30374d30f5b2a927d1152 . Answers to questions can be found in the Telegram bot: http://t.me/PRINUGDENIE_K_MIRU_svyaz_bot
English version :: Read in English A Protracted Summer: The Enemy Is Digging Into Slavyansk, Referendums Are Postponed