Ukrainian soldiers led the NPR’s team into the woods in the “gray zone” where they dug one of the defensive trenches used to stop the Russian advance.
Brian Mann / NPR
hide captions
switch captions
Brian Mann / NPR
Ukrainian soldiers led the NPR’s team into the woods in the “gray zone” where they dug one of the defensive trenches used to stop the Russian advance.
Brian Mann / NPR
NEAR KHERSON, Ukraine – On a hot summer afternoon, NPR was interviewing soldiers near the frontline northeast of Kherson, when something happened that suggested this sprawling battle area could be dangerous. how dangerous.
Two Ukrainian fighters, identified only by their surnames, Viktor and Serhiy, said they spotted a Russian drone overhead.
We are in a dense forest, sheltered by trees. But the drones seem to be tracking our location, possibly sharing our location with Russian artillery or other units.
Viktor said: “It hovered above us as we spoke. “It’s nearby, while we’re here. It’ll fly away and then we can come back.”
It was a terrifying moment. For the first time, we feel somewhat of the fear that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have experienced every day since the Russian invasion.
We will soon learn that in this deadly place, which some Ukrainians call the “gray zone,” danger can manifest in many forms.
Attempt to retake Kherson was Ukraine’s first major counterattack against Russia
That morning, NPR’s team set out from Kryvyi Rih, a fortified Ukrainian city in the east that is often hit by Russian rocket fire.
Our goal was to meet and speak with the soldiers who took part in the first major counterattack against Russia: the attempt to retake the strategic transport hub Kherson.
Our first stop was an abandoned factory, where a burly man with a thick black beard waited in the back of a Ukrainian army ambulance. Calling himself “Doctor”, he smashed piles of medical supplies strapped to his armor. “I carry everything I need on me,” he said.
Like many other Ukrainian soldiers, Doc agreed to be interviewed only if the NPR used a pseudonym.
A Ukrainian medic who identified himself as “Doc” was waiting to care for wounded soldiers on the front lines. As soon as this photo is taken, Doc will help care for the NPR team.
Brian Mann / Brian Mann / NPR
hide captions
switch captions
Brian Mann / Brian Mann / NPR
A Ukrainian medic who identified himself as “Doc” was waiting to care for wounded soldiers on the front lines. As soon as this photo is taken, Doc will help care for the NPR team.
Brian Mann / Brian Mann / NPR
On this day, he waited. There were no patients at this hour, only the distant rumbling of Russian tank fire. Doc said that when wounded soldiers arrive at this rendezvous point, they are often in “very bad shape”, wounded by the fearsome artillery barrage of the enemy.
He said: “We need to quickly inject drugs, stabilize their health.
From this remote outpost, the wounded were then loaded into his ambulance or other vehicles to a military hospital for further care.
According to British and American intelligence reports, fighting at the Kherson front in southern Ukraine along the Dnipro River was already intense and brutal. For the first time, Ukrainian troops are trying to recapture a major city, a city that has been occupied by Russia since the early days of the invasion.
Most of the fighting was done by soldiers who were civilians not long ago.
When asked what he expected to happen as Ukraine’s first major counterattack moved toward Kherson, Doc shrugged and pointed at the waiting stretchers.
“There will certainly be more casualties,” he said.
Why is Kherson important?
A victory here could change the trajectory of the war.
It will demonstrate Ukraine’s ability to use Western high-tech artillery effectively, while also using ground forces to capture and hold important territories.
Losing the Kherson, an important bridge across and the center of regional government on the Dnipro River, would also deal a blow to Moscow’s official statement that the war was a “limited” military operation, which Russia still claims victory.
A short drive from the ambulance station brought us closer to active combat. The explosion of Russian tanks sounded more often, like a distant summer thunderstorm.
Even Ukrainian soldiers who have been fighting here for months say the “gray zone” is a large, confusing place. It stretches in a rough arc from war-torn villages on the outskirts of Kryvyi Rih, about 100 miles north of Kherson, to Mykolaiv, a city near the Black Sea.
Active combat formations between Ukrainian and Russian units change daily, as troops move through old industrial areas, half-abandoned villages, farm fields, winding rivers. and dense forests.
One Ukrainian officer described the terrain north of Kherson as “very difficult, it’s bare ground… the enemy can spot you very well, so it’s very difficult.”
Brian Mann / Brian Mann / NPR
hide captions
switch captions
Brian Mann / Brian Mann / NPR
One Ukrainian officer described the terrain north of Kherson as “very difficult, it’s bare ground… the enemy can spot you very well, so it’s very difficult.”
Brian Mann / Brian Mann / NPR
Russian units are still fighting back
Our next stop was a heavily damaged bunker and observation post, recently abandoned due to Russian artillery and missile fire.
Major Oleksandr Lytvynov said: “They started by hitting us with the BM-27 Uragan, referring to a powerful Soviet-era rocket launcher called the “Hurricane”.
“Then a missile hit this wall from the other side. When they hit us a second time, we made the decision to move.”
Climbing down a bomb crater dozens of meters across, he laughed and said he was lucky to have survived. The Russian goal is only slightly off the mark.
Before the war, Lytvynov – a man in his 50s – worked outside Ukraine as a driver, but like many Ukrainian men, he returned home to fight. He told us that he volunteered to escort us closer to the fighting because it was important for people to know what life was like for Ukrainian soldiers.
A Ukrainian ambulance drives to a rendezvous near an abandoned factory in the “gray zone”, where it will wait for wounded soldiers to be evacuated from the front lines.
Brian Mann / NPR
hide captions
switch captions
Brian Mann / NPR
A Ukrainian ambulance drives to a rendezvous near an abandoned factory in the “gray zone”, where it will wait for wounded soldiers to be evacuated from the front lines.
Brian Mann / NPR
“Next position,” he said, holding the door open of a smashed SUV.
From this point on, the Ukrainian military required the NPR team to travel in their vehicles as part of a two-car convoy.
Mile by mile, the countryside looked as eerie as ever – farm buildings bombed with cannons, fields and roads ripped apart by bomb craters. As cars sped up and shrill on the criss-crossed country roads, Lytvynov told us through an interpreter that it was easy to get lost here.
Soldiers in the gray zone regularly face anxiety because of Russian drones, snipers and artillery.
Lytvynov pointed to farm fields where golden wheat won’t be harvested this year because the danger is always present.
A trench where the Ukrainians fought against Russian tanks
After a 20-minute drive, the vehicles turned into a parking lot disguised in a row of trees. Ukrainian soldiers controlled the area during some of the fiercest weeks of fighting.
“Our company organized and fought here, our laments lived here, and this remains our backup position,” said a Ukrainian soldier who identified himself by the name Viktor. said.
“There were a lot of attacks. We were hit by tanks and mortars.”
On foot, Viktor led the way deeper into the trees, where his soldiers dug a trench about 10 feet deep into the raw ground, roofing it with logs cut from the nearby woods. It’s a narrow, cramped and stuffy space.
He said the army is usually stationed here for a month.
Another soldier, who identified himself as Serhiy, said: “Of course it’s scary when you’re under fire. “These feelings are different for each person. There are people who are afraid, but we also have men who can overcome this feeling.”
In recent weeks, the Ukrainian military has pushed back the Russians from this point on. It was a tough and bitter battle. An officer interviewed by NPR compared the fighting here to what the United States encountered in some of Vietnam’s toughest battles.
A Ukrainian soldier identifying himself as Viktor points to a trench where he and his comrades faced Russian mortar and tank fire.
Brian Mann / NPR
hide captions
switch captions
Brian Mann / NPR
Despite the risks and difficulties, these soldiers seemed confident that the counterattack to retake Kherson from Ukraine would be successful.
Viktor said: “We are moving forward and plan to move forward more. “That’s it, little by little, we move.”
A Russian drone and death in the gray zone
But it was at this point, as soldiers spoke confidently of Ukraine’s progress pushing back against Russia, that enemy drones appeared overhead. After a few minutes of nervous waiting, the soldiers leading the NPR team quickly returned to the forest to get into the car.
We rushed into the vehicles and left in a hurry. Lytvynov, our ex-driver who volunteered to fight and served as our escort, drove fast on the bumpy road, clutching the SUV’s steering wheel.
Then he suddenly lost control. The military SUV plunged into a wheat field and then overcorrected, plowing into the woods and crashing into a tree. Two members of the NPR team were injured in the accident. Lytvynov was pronounced dead at the scene by the Ukrainian military.
Ukrainian soldiers and medical staff – including Doc, the field doctor we met earlier in the day – will help evacuate us from the gray zone to a military hospital a safe distance away.
Later, Ukrainian authorities investigating the incident said they believe the crash happened after the SUV was hit by Russian mortars or artillery.
NPR’s team did not hear or see the hostile fire. What we’ve observed first-hand is how quickly things change in this often confusing and terrifying battle zone. On a summer afternoon, a stretch of forest or farm field or a village road can turn deadly almost without warning.
We also see the terrible price that Ukrainian soldiers, like Oleksandr Lytvynov, are paying as they struggle to push the Russian army out of their territory.
