Five Dominant Height Assaults: Ukrainian Forces Are Advancing Towards Crimea

• 7.11.2023, 12:09

Belarusians also took part in the key breakthrough operations in the South.

The 138th height and the X-positions [Ukrainian soldiers use the slang term when speaking about the heights - Ed.] became key for the liberation of the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine. Over almost five months, the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out five assaults to capture this height. Ultimately, this allowed the defence forces to enter Robotyne and the surrounding area and create a base for a further offensive in southern Ukraine and the liberation of Crimea, the Krym Realii news publisher reports.

“There is the most promising height there because no one could take it,” says a serviceman of the 65th Mechanized Infantry Brigade with the call sign Sedoi.

“This is a dominant height. Both the left and the right are visible. They controlled the landings on the left and precisely the road to the right of Robotyne. It was necessary to capture it so that the 47th and other brigades keep advancing. They gave the 65th Brigade a combat mission - to take these positions,” says the Deputy Commander of the Second Battalion for Moral and Psychological Support of the 65th Mechanized Infantry Brigade with the call sign Poltava.

Before this, different units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were trying to storm the X-positions there, and all attempts failed.

“There was the first battle on March 15. The 128th stormed and retreated. They retreated because they suffered heavy losses. Then there was a new battle on March 19, the 65th, the brigade commander personally led it, but also without losses, but they went too. One armor was abandoned and burned. The International Legion was the third, in April. These were Russians, Chechens and Belarusians. There were three groups of them,” recalls Sedoi.

Next, the GUR (Ukrainian Defence Intelligence) unit was thrown into the assault. The 65th brigade was supposed to follow and gain a foothold in the positions recaptured by the special forces.

“We didn’t know at that time that there was still an enemy there. We were told that there was no one there. Come in, take it, and that’s it. We went in and took the fight because the enemy was there. There was a group there - 15-16 people. We didn't wait. They thought there was no one there. Because they said that there was no one there, the GUR special forces smashed it... The GUR left at night, we were entering, and then it turned out...,” says Sedoi.

The 65th Mechanized Brigade had to storm the heights on its own.

“They involved scouts, the guys from the 4th Company, and began to capture the heights on their own. They wanted us to storm at night. I said that we wouldn’t work at night, because... You know, if we don’t know the area, it could be mined, also we can’t see anything at night. We have no night-visions that allow us to work well. I said: ‘We’ll come in the morning,” says Poltava.

The group under the lead of the commander of the 3rd Squad of the 65th Brigade with the call sign Dzed was the first to enter the trenches of the heights.

“There was a command: Forward!. And we went through the trenches. Let's go: swamp, mud, like that, chomping. In some places they climbed on four feet, holding our guns in front. We moved on, I saw: a Russian rising. I shout to him: ‘Give up if you want to live!’ He seemed to agree. And then it turns out that he also had a partner. And then this partner lifted his gun from behind. Well, I had no choice. We opened fire and threw grenades. We went to almost every dugout, but to enter the dugout, we had to throw a grenade in. There were a lot of dugouts,” recalls Dzed.

“Usually they have these holes along the trenches to hide there. Sometimes they can almost dig a whole tunnel there. Therefore, even if you throw a grenade, an enemy soldier may survive. And they camouflage them well. Therefore, we advanced little by little so that there were no losses,” says a serviceman of the 65th Mechanized Infantry Brigade with the call sign Hera.

It was not easy for the Ukrainian military to gain a foothold in the dugouts and trenches on these heights. Losing the initiative, they say, the enemy began a massive bombardment.

“Our guy raised his hand and it was a piece of shall-debris hit it. A shall expoaded with fragmentation. One more fellow soldier suffered too. A fragment hit his hand. Then I looked at him and said: ‘Let’s evacuate.’ It was the Vasilek [The 2B9 Cornflower - an automatic 82 mm gun-mortar - Ed.] working, and you know, it’s significant. It fires 5 bombs, and it covers quite a large area. Very hard. There were also 120th, 152nd, tanks were also working against, and then they poured Grads here,” says Poltava.

The first wounded were pulled out on ordinary sleeping bags. The evacuation took about five hours, according to Poltava. Later, volunteers helped with their hand frames. The 65th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed not only to capture but also to hold the dominant heights. The X-positions were captured due to an unexpected attack, the Ukrainian military thinks. Having repulsed the GUR attack, the invaders did not expect a second strike in the shortest possible time.

“They relaxed because they repelled the attack. They had already relaxed and did not expect another attack immediately. This is not usual practice. And we, let’s say, made it violently. And what? Let's try. We tried it,” Dzed remembers.

“We were storming but were waiting for a good moment, but the Russians clearly did not wait. The first one we saw was somewhere around, I don’t know, 500-600 meters, maybe more. They walked as if they were right at a parade like they were going just to change. There were two columns of 5, maybe 10 people each, I'm not sure. And they were walking like for a shift. Maybe they didn't know, or maybe they did. We opened fire on them, they just fell, all of them,” Hera remembers.

“It was just luck. They waited for a day and fell asleep. We took them roughly while they were sleeping. There were Wagner chevrons, there were Chechens... There were different types there. Paratroopers, because there was a banner of paratroopers,” says Sedoi.

The dead bodies of Russian soldiers, ammunition, RPGs, unpacked mines and dozens of exemplarily equipped and fortified dugouts are still there.