Recently we have seen a lot of videos coming out of a failed Russian river crossing where they deployed a large pontoon bridge to try to cross in Siverskyi Donets. Britain’s Defense Ministry believes Russia lost “significant armored maneuver elements” compromising of at least one battalion tactical group in this attack. A Russian battalion tactical group usually consists of approximately 1,000 soldiers, so this is significant. Furthermore, it is believed a Russian general was also killed in this attack.
While it’s easy to underestimate just how much skill is involved in locating and destroying troop movements like this, one of the drone operators involved has shed a lot of light on the operation. Ukrainian soldier “Maxim”, also known as @kms_d4k on Twitter documented the who thing in a thread on Twitter. Maxim is a military engineer and EOD (Explosive Ordinance Device) officer. Maxim is a career soldier, having served in the army since he was just 17 years old. Prior to these engagements he had also served in Donbas a few years ago.
Maxim was ordered by his commander to begin investigating intelligence from the frontline that Russian forces are on the other side of the river. On May 6th, Maxim was deployed with recon units and began exploring the areas of Hryhorivka and Bilohorivka. Ukrainian forces in these areas had reported seeing Russian vehicles gather on the other sides of the river. Maxim quickly realized there was a specific spot in the bend of the river that made the most sense for the crossing.
Maxim then went and calculated the depth of the river, how many pontoon bridges would be needed, ad the rough timeline it would require to assemble and cross the river. As a result of this, Maxim was very confident the Russians would attempt to cross at the exact spot he was thinking, however he did not have an exact date. However, Maxim also realized based on the river size, depth and conditions, the Russians would need to deploy some boats to make this happen. As a result, Maxim placed the ground troops on alert for the sign of any boat engines.
A few days later, units reported hearing what sounded like boats coming into the area. Maxim coordinated with his commander to immediately get artillery units to shell the area. The problem was that the Russians had also deployed smoke grenades in an effort to conceal themselves. Maxim had little to no visibility of the area now but still recommended they bomb the area he had earlier thought they would cross at. His commander was able to get artillery and air support to the area. As a result, on May 10th, the bridge was completely destroyed along with several other vehicles an a good chunk of the unit.
Pretty impressive work. Maxim is working with mostly retail grade gear as is pictured above, which is from his Twitter account.
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Tim B