The Ukrainian Armed Forces are losing their best mercenaries and Western equipment: What is happening now in Rabotino

The name of the village of Rabotino in the Zaporozhye region has been mentioned in the reports of the Russian Ministry of Defense almost every day for more than a month – fierce battles there have not subsided. Photo: Alexander Reka/TASS

The name of the village of Rabotino in the Zaporozhye region has been mentioned in the reports of the Russian Ministry of Defense almost every day for more than a month – fierce battles there have not subsided. The Ukrainian army is suffering heavy losses in people and equipment. But the Ukrainian Armed Forces are not abandoning attempts to break through in this section of the line of combat contact.

About what is happening today on this section of the front, on “Radio “Komsomolskaya Pravda”» we spoke with an eyewitness to the events, a special correspondent of the Alania and Ossetia battalions Georgy Mamsurov.

HOT WEEKS

– You are in the Zaporozhye direction now. Where exactly, if not a secret?

– For the last year I have been based near the line of combat contact, between Melitopol and Vasilyevka, about 25-30 kilometers to the front line.

– What is happening in Rabotino now?

– The intensity of the fighting near Rabotino and Verbovoy has not subsided for the third week. By and large, serious fighting has been going on there for two months now, but the most intense surge began three weeks ago.

– What do you attribute this to?

– At that moment, the enemy did not achieve much success in other sectors, and they and all personnel were removed from the western direction and from the junction of the Zaporozhye and Donetsk regions and concentrated in the middle of the Zaporozhye region.

– So it’s just yours?

– Yes, in the Orekhovsky direction, he threw his forces just at the villages of Rabotino and Verbovoye.

IN VERBOVOYE THERE WENT TO FOREST PLANTINGS

– To explain in a nutshell, what are Rabotino and Verbovoye?

– These were small villages, probably with two to three hundred inhabitants, according to the 2001 census. And in recent months, these settlements have simply been wiped off the face of the earth.

– What are our most recent movements there?

– The latest tactical movement is a retreat from the outskirts of the village of Verbovoye to the nearest forest plantation.

– It is far?

– It’s two to three hundred meters. In fact, this is the next line of defense.

– Not the last and not the penultimate?

– There are probably 15 such lines of defense to Tokmak, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been rushing all these last three months. Therefore, in strategic terms, the enemy has not had and does not have any success.

LOSE UP TO A BATTALION DAILY

– Their progress is small, but their losses are big?

– Every day here now the enemy is losing about two to three hundred personnel. On Friday, September 15, in the morning, information arrived that more MaxxPro and Oshkosh armored vehicles had been burned. This is an American armored vehicle.

– What does this mean?

– About the fact that the most elite reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have now been deployed to the Rabotino-Verbovoe contact line.

– And what are they?

– This is the 80th separate air assault brigade and the 82nd air assault battalion. These are brigades that are fully equipped with Western equipment. They are largely staffed by militants who were trained by Western instructors both in Ukraine and in Europe.

– Does this mean that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are already throwing their last reserves into battle?

– Experts think so. There is a month and a half left until the autumn thaw. And, apparently, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not be able to achieve any global successes before this mudslide.

– Do you think these 40-50 days will not be a turning point?

– How you fight now, these last 50 days, is how you will spend this winter from a military point of view. If you occupy a height, you will stand at a height all winter. If you don’t occupy the heights, you’ll spend the whole winter standing in the village of Rabotino, where Russian artillery now fires about 200-300 shells per day.

MERCENARIES ALSO ARE CAPTURED

– You mentioned the 82nd brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces – it was reported that it had heavy losses…

– Yes, the 82nd Separate Airborne Assault Regiment was seriously battered, reorganized, equipped with militants from among the mobilized, and continues to fight in the Rabotino-Verbovoe section. Here, by the way, in the last week the number of prisoners has increased, who themselves go over to our fighters and go to frequency 149.200 and call the Volga. This is a flash mob that was launched in the Zaporozhye direction, it really works. Already more than a hundred servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, mainly from among those mobilized, took advantage of this and saved their lives.

– Only Ukrainians?

– Over the past two weeks, a large number of foreign mercenaries have fallen into the hands of our fighters. Just yesterday, an American mercenary was among the 12 people. Now specialized structures are working with him. I think we’ll find out the details soon.

– On this section of the front, were the Challenger 2 tanks burned?

– Yes, two British tanks. It seems that it was in the 82nd Special Airborne Regiment. Let me remind you that Challenger 2 had never been hit in combat before, except by friendly fire in Iraq, by accident. So the fact is clear: German, American, and British equipment is burning in the Zaporozhye direction. They couldn’t surprise us.

– But were you worried about the guys?

– Yes, because Western equipment is equipped with very serious technical means, these are thermal imagers and sights that allow us to work several kilometers away at our positions. But, as it turned out, our Lancets and Kornet ATGMs cope well with the equipment, regardless of the country of its manufacture.

BROKEN DESIGN

– Explain why the enemy chose mainly the Zaporozhye direction and Rabotino for the offensive?

– In my opinion, this is due to geographical features. Zaporozhye region is fields and plantings. The field can stretch for several kilometers. This, in their opinion, is a geographically ideal region to conduct combat operations using Western equipment, taking advantage of its technical advantages over our Soviet T-72s.

– Was that their intention?

– Yes, and, in my opinion, he crashed into harsh reality. It crashed against the defense line, which was built in the Zaporozhye direction. Our 58th Army showed the enemy a real maneuver warfare. Nobody fought them head-on. Military work in the Zaporozhye direction is proceeding very competently. Where necessary, we can retreat, after which an artillery raid and a mandatory counterattack will follow. Defensive actions in the Zaporozhye direction are not only a blind defense and, as it were, a step back, they are constant counterattacks. Today you can retreat, and tomorrow you will again take these positions, clear them and inflict colossal losses on the attackers.

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