Ukrainian soldiers say US Bradley fighting vehicles played a key role in the offensive to retake the strategic village of Rabotino last week.
T0408 was once a deserted country road running through rolling fields in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine, leading from Orikhiv, through the village of Rabotino to Tokmak.
Now, soldiers from Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade have renamed it "the road to hell" and say their experience there is "nothing short of apocalyptic" with "constantly gray skies and heavy drones". Russian artillery, fortified trenches, constant aerial bombardment and minefields make any attempt to advance south nearly impossible.
Ukrainian soldier with the code name Karatsupa, commander of the Bradley armored vehicle team of the 47th Mechanized Brigade. Photo: CNN
Yet that is exactly what three Ukrainian soldiers, codenamed Karatsupa, Pan and Taba, are trying to do. They are piloting Bradley Fighting Vehicles donated by the United States on a path that they believe will lead to victory for Ukraine.
Every day, under relentless enemy fire, they drove armored vehicles to continuously deliver new groups of soldiers into the battlefield to replace the troops. They had only 30 seconds to complete the entire rotation process on the battlefield.
"I've been in the army since 2014 and I've never encountered such minefields anywhere. There were mines everywhere, left and right," Karatsupa said. "There were trenches, fortifications. All spread out over an area of tens of kilometers. They even launched mines into the area we had just taken control of. If it weren't for the Russian minefield, we would have reached Tokmak by now."
The village of Rabotino is strategically important to Ukraine’s three-month-old counteroffensive, and its capture by Ukrainian forces puts Russian forces at a huge disadvantage, soldiers from the 47th Brigade said.
The village continues to be ravaged day and night, not only by artillery and aerial bombardment, but most intensely by UAVs.
The location of the T0408 road running through the village of Rabotino that Ukraine has just regained. Photo: InfoUkraine
“The sky is black with them,” Pan said. “Surveillance UAVs, attack UAVs, some Ukrainian, some Russian. The worst ones are suicide UAVs that will track you and take you down.”
After a month of fighting, the village they recaptured in late August in a state of disrepair still surprised the Ukrainian soldiers, who found some civilians still hiding in basements.
After Ukrainian soldiers ordered civilians to pack up, they charged into the Bradleys amid relentless fire. One woman brought her cat, and one man asked if he could take the car he had saved his entire life for by driving it between two Bradleys.
“Items like that mean a lot to them,” Pan said. But after Ukrainian soldiers explained the risks were too great, the man agreed to abandon the car as the evacuation began. Russian artillery fire also immediately fell, Karatsupa said.
Having made it through enemy fire into a nearby forest, the Ukrainian army began moving civilians, mostly elderly, out of the Bradley. Most of them were tired, hungry and dirty after spending so long underground.
Like many other villages and towns in the Zaporizhzhia region, Rabotino has suffered greatly since the conflict first broke out last February, as it is beyond the reach of any aid efforts from Ukraine.
Without the Bradley, Ukrainian soldiers said they would not have been able to reach Rabotino, let alone get people out. They proudly showed CNN reporters some of the direct hits the vehicle had taken but survived, and repeatedly praised them.
Ukrainian soldiers sit on an M2 Bradley armored vehicle in this photo released on July 19. Photo: Telegram/Hanna Maliar
Karatsupa said the Bradley's only drawback was its distinctive whistling sound, which could be heard from miles away.
The sound may have frightened Russian soldiers and reassured Ukrainian infantry on the front lines, telling them that supporting fire was coming. But it also signaled to Russian forces where to aim their fire.
On the modern battlefield, no vehicle, no matter how powerful, is invulnerable. The Bradley Fighting Vehicle was no exception, and the 47th Brigade lost many of them during the counterattack, especially in the early stages.
In the battle on June 8 alone near the village of Malaya Tokmachka, six Bradleys of the 47th Brigade were destroyed, and three others were damaged after hitting a dense minefield, while Russian helicopter gunships and artillery also fired heavily at the formation. The brigade had to retreat to the city of Orekhov in the rear to stabilize its forces before joining the attack on the village of Rabotino.
Karatsupa, Pan, and Taba now carry not only pride in what they have achieved, but also sadness for what they have lost.
Several of their comrades who took part in the operation to capture Rabotino last week were killed when their Bradley took a direct hit, a reminder that as important as Rabotino’s gains are to the counteroffensive, the front lines are rocky and the losses will only increase as Ukrainian forces advance deeper.
Vu Hoang (According to CNN )
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