War in Ukraine: A brutal advance, house by house and town by town

SOUTHERN UKRAINE – The mission of the Ukrainian unit was to take a single house, in a town that is nothing more than a speck on the map, but which served as a stronghold for Russian soldiers.

Andriy, a veteran Marine, had waited three days with his small assault team—none of which had seen combat before—while other Ukrainian units crawled through minefields, stormed trenches, and broke through to the farming village of Urozhaine.

Finally, one day last month, the order came to get going.

They rushed to a predetermined location in an armored personnel carrier, disembarking as explosions and gunfire shook the ground under their feet, Andriy and members of his unit said.

After driving off or killing the remaining Russians, they secured the house at nightfall, posting guards and reviewing the day’s tactics to see how they could be improved.

In the morning, the new order came:

Campaign

The month-long campaign to break heavily fortified Russian lines is underway in many arenas and in many forms of battle, with artillery duels and drone strikes across the entire front in southern Ukraine.

But the engine that drives the effort are hundreds of small-scale raiding parties, often numbering just eight or 10 soldiers, each tasked with attacking a single trench, grove or house.

Ukrainian marines during training exercises in the south. There are many newly trained recruits joining the war effort. Photography by Tyler Hicks for The New York Times

In this tactical approach, small villages occupy a prominent place.

They line the paved roads, facilitating transportation, and buildings, even those devastated by bombing, provide some cover.

The Russians use them as strongholds; Urozhaine, for example, was surrounded by two lines of trenches and a maze of tunnels that allowed Russian troops to fire at one location and then appear at another.

Everyday success is measured in yards rather than miles.

But dozens of these assaults have been going on daily for weeks and, taken together, they are adding up to achievements that Ukraine says will pose more and more problems for the overwhelmed Russian forces.

A Ukrainian soldier at an artillery position in the Bakhmut region. Photography by Tyler Hicks for The New York Times

It is a difficult way to fight a war, town by town, house by house, with no guarantee of success.

However, once taken and secured, the surviving Russian fortifications serve as a base for the Ukrainians to plan their next advance.

This has been Ukraine’s pattern as it attempts to advance along two north-south routes toward the Sea of ​​Azov, looking for a place to break through and cut the so-called land bridge between Russia and occupied Crimea.

To the west, Ukrainian forces have been pressing on the road leading to Melitopol; Having secured the key town of Robotyne, they were fighting fiercely this week in the town of Verbove, the next step in the advance.

On Friday, the Ukrainian military declared it had advanced 5 km beyond Robotyne, and John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said Ukraine had made “remarkable progress” in the previous 72 hours.

Urozhaine is located on a more eastern route, along a small country road leading to Mariupol on the southern coast.

The battle for the town lasted nine days, with the Russians finally retreating on August 19 under a hail of Ukrainian artillery fire.

It was a small but necessary step.

As in the case of Robotyne, its conquest meant that the Ukrainian forces had broken through the Russians’ first defensive layer.

And what is just as important, they have kept it in their possession for two weeks.

Challenge

The Ukrainians still have about 100 km of hard road ahead of them before they can reach the coast, and at least one other heavily fortified Russian defensive line in their path.

The Russians resist fiercely, protected by entrenched positions, minefields, and air superiority.

The soldiers expect the fight to be bloody and slow.

Ukrainian soldiers with an artillery resupply for their 122mm howitzer in the Bakhmut region. Photograph by Tyler Hicks for The New York Times

“The Russians have more artillery, more tanks, more drones and more people,” said a veteran Marine named Denis.

“And they also fortify themselves very well, whenever they reach somewhere, whether it is a settlement, a forest belt or just a field.”

The Ukrainians allowed a team from The New York Times to visit soldiers fighting on the Mariupol highway on multiple occasions over two weeks in August, on the condition that journalists not reveal precise locations, full names and ranks. of the soldiers, and certain operational details.

Ukrainian marines practice house-to-house combat during training exercises in the Vuhledar region in August. Photograph by Tyler Hicks for The New York Times

In more than a dozen interviews in recent days, the fighting troops expressed great confidence that they could break through the Russian lines.

“After the first and second lines there will be a straight road to the sea, without any more fortifications,” said Maksym, another veteran soldier who fought in Urozhaine.

“We will move like rockets.”

Forehead

The Marines are fighting on a line that runs south along T0158, a rural road that winds through the Mokri Yali River valley, where the Ukrainians have recaptured a number of villages since launching their counteroffensive in June.

The next major assault target is Staromlynivka, some 20 kilometers from where the campaign began.

The Russians are sending reinforcements to try to stop the advance, according to the Ukrainian soldiers.

His description of the Battle of Urozhaine was supported by raw footage from Ukrainian drones.

A Marine runs during training exercises. The road to the counteroffensive has been exhausting. Photograph by Tyler Hicks for The New York Times

Before attacking the Russians in a village, the Ukrainians fight for control of high flank positions, hoping to make Russian positions untenable and limit house-to-house fighting.

Each settlement presents many of the same challenges, so soldiers map each assault and drill as much as they can before launching an attack.

Ukrainian soldier looking for a drone overhead that they can hear. Photography by Tyler Hicks for The New York Times

“The most important thing is to keep first street,” Denis explains.

“Then we send an additional drone that watches each building. Our soldiers are divided into two groups: the fire group and the maneuver group.”

“The fire group fires at the Russians hiding on different floors of the building and then the maneuver group clears it. That’s how we advance house by house.”

If the assault fails, he said, they call in artillery and destroy the house.

The Russians are also adapting, the soldiers said, including using new tactics to make already treacherous minefields even more deadly.

For example, they will coat a mine-filled pasture with a flammable agent.

Once the Ukrainians get to work clearing an opening, the Russians will launch a grenade from a drone, causing a sea of ​​fire and explosions.

Marines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during training exercises in the Vuhledar region. Photograph by Tyler Hicks for The New York Times

Mining makes control of paved roads essential; They are the safest routes because mines are easier to detect and remove.

The Russians know this and have installed defenses along T0158, with concrete bunkers for machine gunners.

Russian drones constantly monitor the roads.

While Denis was speaking, a few kilometers from the line of contact, a unit was practicing assaulting a house.

There is no shortage of battered buildings for these types of exercises, so they change locations often.

Ukrainian marines during exercises. The military does not have the luxury of much time for training. Photography by Tyler Hicks for The New York Times

But the Russian drones captured the concentration of soldiers and fired rockets at them.

The soldiers heard the whistle of the rockets and had seconds to take cover.

They dispersed as the Russians fired another salvo.

A hail of rockets crashed around the Marines, but no one was hurt.

A few days later, another group was preparing for its next assault along the Mariupol highway.

They were part of a recent wave of Marines who had completed their training in Britain but had not yet seen combat.

An instructor named Vasyl, 53, led the exercises, barking orders as the new soldiers fired live ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades for the first time.

Time is a luxury they don’t have when battles rage, he said, “so we do everything we can to get them ready as soon as possible.”

A key part of forming a successful assault unit, soldiers said, was finding the most motivated recruits willing to run into a hive of destruction.

Like other Ukrainian units, the Marines are made up of a mix of career fighters, volunteers and mobilized recruits.

About 70% come from the area – including the occupied city of Mariupol – and soldiers believe this gives them a clear advantage over an enemy they see as fighting for pay and holding positions for fear of being punished if they withdraw. .

As seasoned soldiers, Andriy and Maksym, both 35, guided the new recruits.

“Of course we had some casualties, not within our platoon, but within the brigade,” Maksym said.

“It’s war, you know.”

Still, the soldiers achieved their goal at Urozhaine and were one step closer to the sea.

“It’s also important for self-confidence and motivation,” Maksym said.

“A lot of the guys were new, it was their first fight. And now they know what it’s like.”

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