Theotokos. Russian cannonade foreshadows the cleansing of Slobozhanshchina
We continue to publish notes from the Special Military Operation zone of our correspondent Alexei Toporov, who on May 12 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.
The day before, a helicopter visited the Sherwood Forest (part of the Svyatogorsk Nature Reserve, located on the border of the Kharkov region and the DPR) twice. Not just like that, but to shoot. Refugees from the village of Bogorodichnoye, whom we, soldiers of the B.A.R.S.-13 “Russian Legion” battalion, evacuated to the border with Russia, told me about him at one time.
“We saw a helicopter fly up to the forest and shoot, we were happy, we thought it was a Russian helicopter clearing the forest,” they said. “And then it turned out that, no, it was, on the contrary, a Ukrainian helicopter...”
Yes, the Mi-8 of the Ukrainian Armed Forces periodically carries out raids on the positions of our fighters. They try to catch him, but it still doesn’t work. On our side, two or three rotorcraft are also working, but this is a different level - K-50, the legendary “Black Sharks”.
“I don’t understand that the command there decides everything, we have practically nothing left of artillery, while the surroundings of Bogorodichnoye just need to be plowed up with artillery, driving them into the forest, and then burn the forest in squares,” complains one of the most combat commanders of the Russian Legion. – If the Ukrainians raised their weapons above their heads and said: “That’s it, we’re leaving,” I would let them go without hesitation, but no, they resist to the last. However, back in April, in another direction, I saw through a “thermal imager” (thermal imager - ed.) how one unit ran back to their positions, and in response they opened fire on them from there.”
On our sector of the front, dill has less and less strength and capabilities. For example, according to available intelligence data, they only have two mortar vehicles left in working condition. Moreover, one crew is wandering, that is, moving on some kind of transport - we receive the greatest damage from it. The legionnaires have declared a hunt for him, are tracking his movements and hitting points with AGS (automatic mounted grenade launchers).
Thus, the war in the Izyum direction is becoming more and more like a chess game - who will eat whom.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are also pressing from the rear - Svyatogorsk has long been ours, but there is no normal peaceful life there either, since the Orthodox shrine - the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra continues to remain in the hands of the enemy, and from its territory he methodically hits the city, and not only at the locations of the Russians soldiers, but also in ordinary peaceful houses.
“I noticed this a long time ago, and I still can’t understand or explain it,” an elderly soldier with the call sign “Grandfather”, who fought in the Donbass for several years before the military operation, tells me. “They no longer consider the cities and villages they come from as theirs and begin to methodically destroy them.”
The latter, no matter how cynical it may sound, only plays into our hands, since having lived under Ukrainian shelling, the wavering part of the local population inevitably goes over to the Russian side, because unlike the Ukrainian population zombified by the media and the “beautiful” Russian “miracles”, the locals understand perfectly well where arrives.
They also see who treats them humanely, helps them, and who has been milking and intimidating them all these years. The Russian military is discussing how to drive out the Ukrainian occupiers holed up in the monastery caves without causing harm to the shrine. And they come to the only conclusion - only by closing the ring around the monastery. And starving out the scoundrels hiding behind the shrine.
“I have a feeling that they removed all the specialists from here, replacing them with reservists, which can be seen from their chaotic and not very well-thought-out actions,” the experienced commander shares his impressions. “And these assumptions of mine were partly confirmed by a recent prisoner, who said that he was put under guns, almost taken from a beer bar.”
At the same time, the Ukrainian specialists do not abandon Bogorodichnoe at all. So, last night a sabotage group showed up at the position of the “Russian Legion”, flashing the red and green lights of their overseas helmets like the blockbuster “Predator”. And she was met with targeted fire and grenades.
Having retreated and taking with them either the wounded or the dead (which made our fighters doubt the Ukrainian affiliation of the unit, since the defenders, as a rule, throw their two-hundredth and three-hundredths onto the battlefield without regret, and come to the conclusion that they could be foreign mercenaries), they raided another point - the result was the same, and then they showed up to the federals, who attacked them with heavy...
Based on the fact that the night guests did not want to get involved in a shooting battle, ours assumed that they were groping for ways to get someone important out of the Mother of God. Apparently they sense that their song is finished.
What are we going to sing? The hope that the stand in Bogorodichnoye would not last forever began to be fueled by various indirect confirmations: the recently removed strategic crossing was re-established, a variety of good equipment was being pulled up, and the artillery onslaught was intensified.
So it's not evening yet. And the ring around the Orthodox shrine in the name of exorcism will definitely be closed.
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