Russian strategy a mystery
Kyiv withstands the advance of Russian troops
3/13/2022 3:32 p.m
For days, Russian troops have been increasing their attacks on the Ukrainian capital. So far, the Ukrainians have managed to prevent the enemy advance. Soldiers in Kyiv report destroyed vehicles on the Russian side. The strategy of the Russians is not clear to them.
With continuous artillery fire, a squad of Ukrainian soldiers held the position north-east of Kyiv. Near the village of Skybyn, the men guard the highway that runs from the northeast through Brovary to the Ukrainian capital. So far they have been able to prevent the Russian tanks from advancing to Kyiv.
“Today the morale of the troops is very good,” says a soldier nicknamed Topas, who is holding a Kalashnikov and radioing through a headset. “Two days ago we pushed back the Russian tanks a few hundred meters,” he reports proudly in a pause between two exchanges of fire.
Video of the battle, captured by a Ukrainian military drone, shows a column of about 20 Russian vehicles, including many tanks, moving south on the highway. Then the convoy is suddenly fired at with rockets and grenades. The front tank is hit first, then one further back. The Russian convoy turns and hurries out of the village. “We shot at them with tanks and rocket launchers,” reports Topas. “They then hid in surrounding villages.”
Ukraine: Five injured, one in mortal danger
According to several Ukrainian soldiers, at least two Russian vehicles were destroyed and a Russian tank commander was killed. On the Ukrainian side, “we had five wounded, one of whom is in mortal danger,” reports soldier Ilya Beresenko.
Since invading on February 24, the Russian army has captured a number of strategically important locations in Ukraine, especially on the south coast and in the east and north of the country. The Russians are advancing on the capital Kyiv mainly from the north-west and north-east. But the advance has stalled. While Russia has recently intensified its airstrikes, military experts estimate that the ground troops around Kyiv have barely moved in the past few days.
A few days ago, to the east of Kyiv, Russian tanks advanced to within a few kilometers of the suburb of Brovary. Local residents counted more than 70 military vehicles, including about 40 tanks, and about 300 soldiers. This column, or at least a part of it, then moved on towards Brovary and Kyiv – and was stopped by the soldiers in Skybyn on Thursday.
“You must be crazy or misinformed”
Since then, the men have been pondering the Russian strategy. They couldn’t penetrate Kyiv with a few dozen tanks, says 27-year-old Beresenko. “I don’t know why they’re doing this. They must be crazy or misinformed. Or they just want to confuse us.” Ukrainian soldiers believe that the Russian army overestimated itself and underestimated its opponent. “They have to camp in villages at night when the temperature is almost minus 10 degrees,” Beresenko says of the Russian soldiers. “They have no food and have to plunder houses.”
Despite all this, the Russians have advanced far enough to stoke fears of a complete encirclement of Kiev. Only the roads to the south are still open. According to the Ukrainian Presidential Office, the capital is in a “state of siege”.
Above all, the soldiers in Skybyn fear the Russian air raids, which cause devastating damage. But they “don’t have enough men or equipment to occupy the country,” Beresenko is convinced. The Russian soldiers are “not numerous enough” and “far from home”. In the end they would “give up exhausted”.