Doomed river crossing shows perils of entrapment in the east
BELOKHOROVKA, UKRAINE » Out on the riverbank, the scene of mayhem unfolded under a baking spring sun: blown-up tanks, the detritus of pontoon bridges, heaps of branches shorn off by explosions and the bodies of Russian soldiers, some half buried in the mud.
In the forest, a short walk revealed bits of torn Russian military uniforms hanging from trees, an eerie reminder of the troops who died violently here.
The failed river crossing that took place at this spot over several days in early May was one of the most lethal engagements of the war for the Russian army. Its forces had sought to surround Ukrainian soldiers in the nearby town of Sievierodonetsk — but instead became surrounded themselves, boxed in by the river and a Ukrainian front line. At least 400 Russian soldiers died, mostly from artillery attacks.
As the war grinds across the rolling plains and forests of eastern Ukraine, the maneuvering of troops has in large part evolved into attempts at entrapment. But as the deadly encounter at the bridge illustrated, the tactic comes with grave risks.
After failing to capture major cities such as Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, or to cleave off the entire Black Sea coast, the Russian military attempted a major encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the east. That effort is looking difficult now that Ukraine has blocked one main route of advance, near the town of Izyum.
So the Russian forces’ immediate goal has become a smaller encirclement of Sievierodonetsk, the easternmost city in the Donbas region still under Ukrainian control. Artillery bombardments by Russian troops approaching from three sides have ravaged the city, knocking out water and electricity and in the past day killing at least six people.
Encirclement is a harrowing prospect for soldiers.
“I try not to think about it,” said Pvt. Ivan Sichkar, a Ukrainian soldier surveying the destruction of the encircled Russian force. “If I think of being surrounded, there’s no time left to do anything else.”
The Russians’ refashioned goal has focused the battle on a slender, 75-mile front in the Donbas. It is seeking to advance from the north and the south to close the one remaining supply line for Ukraine into the city of Sievierodonetsk.
On Tuesday, the Russian army advanced from the south, forcing Ukrainian troops to retreat from the small town of Svitlodarsk, lest the Russians envelop the town and trap soldiers inside. And in its Wednesday evening briefing, the Ukrainian general staff described intensified attacks by Russian helicopters and jets to support ground troops in the east.
With Russia making only halting progress in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin moved Wednesday to shore up support at home, announcing raises in pensions and the minimum wage and making his first trip to meet with wounded soldiers. “They are all heroes,” he said at a military hospital.
Putin also signed a decree opening a fast track to Russian citizenship for Ukrainian residents of areas controlled by the Russian military, a further step toward annexing territory in southeastern Ukraine that Russia has occupied.
The strategy of encirclement has yielded far-reaching political gains for Russia over the course of its longer conflict in the region. But in Belokhorovke, a coal mining town on the banks of the Seversky Donets River, the tables were turned this month, at least temporarily slowing the Russian advance. Ukrainian soldiers who fought in the battle took to calling the site “the ear” for a lobelike loop in the river where the fiercest fighting took place. “The Russian bodies start here,” Sichkar said as he rounded a bend in a dirt road extending about 1 mile through the forest to the river’s edge. Just in this one spot, 15 incinerated armored personnel carriers were scattered about.
Ukrainian infantry advanced to the area then set up a defensive line to box in the Russians as they crossed their pontoon bridge. They rained down artillery fire on the area. They also set about destroying the bridge by placing floating mines upstream, allowing the current to carry them to the Russians’ pontoons, which proved an effective tactic.
The Russians hastily laid new pontoons and sent armored vehicles across, but they were unable to break through the Ukrainian defensive line.