The dugout is still there. Two men are curled up in sleeping bags on a folded bed, their heads covered. It's 4:30am. It's dark and cold outside. Our film crew just drove through the fields. The road from Kherson was exposed to artillery and drone attacks. The truck bounced up and down, the grass glinting in the moonlight.
Golden light reflects on the cardboard wall. This place isn't cozy, but at least to begin with it's tidy, dry, and warm. It has a beautiful scent. Dima, one of the fighters, shows us around the house. He explains that the roof is made of pine logs. Pinewood is popular because the tar binds the fibers together, making it soft and viscous, which traps debris.
Shooting of gunfire. Photo: Zarina Zabriskie.
Dima worries about forest loss, even though Ukraine has a lot of pine forests. The walls above the mobile oven are all black earth and light local coquina rock mixed with crushed shells and white clay. Digging a space 2.5 meters deep into that rocky soil requires an excavator and can take him anywhere from a few days to a week or more. Because it is outdoors, Russian drones can easily attack soldiers before the trenches are ready.
We came here to photograph artillery work. This was previously a mortar platoon, but during the liberation of Kherson, it discovered the spoils of war, his 1950s Russian D-20, 152 mm howitzer, near Chakhinka, Kherson Oblast.
They repaired broken guns, found missing parts, and towed the mortar with it for six months.they learned to operate with it YouTube manual. No one here had proper military training.
Before the Russian invasion, Dima worked as a welder and metalworker at a shipbuilding factory in a village near Odesa. Styopa, the driver, kept cows, pigs, chickens and ducks. The youngest, Andriy, is also from the village, but he studied in Odesa and worked on construction sites to earn a living. He was planning to become a political analyst, but then Russia invaded. Sasha was a truck driver who transported grain from Western Ukraine to the port of Odessa.
“We lived well,” Dima says. “Then the damn Russians came and destroyed everything. “Free” us from ourselves. ”
The 126th Independent Territorial Defense Brigade was formed on March 9, 2022 in Odessa Oblast during the first two weeks of the full-scale Russian invasion, as volunteers rushed to mobilization centers to defend the land.
For the first three months, volunteers trained with makeshift mortars made from feces and plastic sewer pipes. Some of the commanders fought against the Russian invasion in Donbas in 2014, teaching recruits the necessary skills. Platoon commanders knew how to calculate the enemy's position by the sound and light of artillery shells.
After the brigade was officially recognized on March 23, 2022, it was given its first combat mission to protect critical infrastructure in the Odessa region. In May, the brigade moved to the defense of Mykolaiv Oblast, and by November 2022 it will be one of the forces liberating Kherson. There, the platoon's commander, along with three other officers and a sapper, was blown up by a mine.
Ammunition was always, and still is, an issue. This platoon, like the entire Ukrainian army, is starved of shells.
In 2022, the militants discovered some ammunition in Stanislav and further exchanged it with other trophies and other units in the Kherson Oblast. Trophy bartering was popular, with everyone exchanging their finds and making jokes about Russian “lend-lease.”
Now, with Western countries delaying the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, soldiers are reloading fired cartridges, finding propellant from local sources and attaching it to spent brass cartridges, and using the “cannon lard.” ” (wax used to seal explosives) to seal the cartridge case. “Cannon lard” is cooked Soviet-style in a small enamel pot with red cherries.
Soviet guns, Soviet shells and pots. Ukraine is fighting to bury its Soviet past and move forward, without shells, into a future of its own choosing.
“There were times when we were firing 80 to 100 shells a day,” Dima said. “Right now, not so much.”
Each shell weighs 42 kg. Dima can lift only 20 of his shells at once, and Styopa can lift more, but anyway, the platoon has not 4 of his, but 6 of his in this position. Is required.
Birds start singing outside. The sun has risen. Going outside for some air or a bathroom break is only allowed after supervised check-in.
After the third try, I received a signal over the radio that it was safe to go outside, but it didn't last long. Soon everyone returns to their cots and falls asleep. The oven will turn off and cool down. Everyone is coughing. Other than the distant sound of gunfire, I couldn't even hear the rats.
Last year, soldiers had to share trenches and trenches with rats all the way to the front, but that is no longer the case. At night, the rat slips into his sleeping bag through the opening in his face. Dima and Styopa brought the cat into position to catch the mouse, but the cat chased them all the way to the dugout. The cat hunted mice outside, brought them inside the house to play, and was sent back home.
There were enough animals around here anyway. When people fled the village, they left behind dogs, cats, and even pigs. The pigs became feral and tried to eat anything, including the bodies of dead Russian soldiers. Eating pork after that was a completely different matter, Dima says.
At 11 am, Dima, Styopa and Sasha offer us buckwheat, fried duck, smoked meat and ribs and talk about making pea soup, frying sausages and making sandwiches. They don't cook in the dugout. The kettle is boiling on the gas burner. Avoid drinking too much tea or coffee as it is dangerous to leave the dugout too often.
After lunch, everyone waits for a signal from air surveillance. Sasha is eating sunflower seeds. Dima is dozing off while sitting with her head in her arms. Andriy is sleeping on a cot. Styopa just sits and stares into space. He stood up and fell down, his legs falling asleep. Andriy is asleep. There is no sound. Nearby places are also quite quiet.
Dima shows a video of a Russian decoy camp, and it's a pretty surreal sight. There are fake tanks and vehicles, mannequins in camouflage uniforms repairing fake tanks, and using fake toilets.
At noon, Russian troops began shelling and several explosions occurred nearby. The wait continues for another three hours, with occasional bangs echoing outside. After checking in with the lifeguard, I head outside. The light hurts my eyes. I hear drones in the distance and artillery fire from the other side of the Dnipro River.
Dima returns to the dugout and talks to his family on the phone. He told his children to stop playing computer games and do their homework, and advised his wife to eat soup for lunch. She complains about the weather: it's cold and windy. While the two were having a small disagreement about fixing the kitchen sink, Dima yelled, “Work!”
Preparing for ignition. A soldier is carrying a cannonball. Photo: Zarina Zabriskie.
Everyone is awake. Gear is on. The platoon is outside by the cannon. Andriy adjusts the fuse of the shell. Sasha fills them with gunpowder. They insert shells. Dima shouted: “Fire!” Styopa pulls the rope. The gun fires. thunder and flame. Bursts of yellowish smoke are mixed with bits of wood and chunks of clay. The air smells burnt. repeat! Also! “Mask the gun!” Dima shouts. The gun is covered with a stick and camouflage net. Everyone returned to the dugout.
It feels different inside. The sleepy and lazy silence is over. The men are standing around smoking cigarettes. Eyes shining in the dusk.
“What was your goal?” ask.
“Putin came and we kicked him out,” says Sasha.
It took about 15 minutes from the time the target was detected to the time the smoke broke. Then wait again. In some cases, that wait can last several days. Styopa says there are signs of hope. If we shoot too often, the Russians may learn our position and attack us with drones or artillery.
Eventually, it happens and the platoon has to leave, tow the artillery, find another location and start digging again. According to Dima, farmers will find a way to use these dugouts the day after the victory.
Hours later, the crew is assigned a strange mission with another target. Volunteers support the brigade with donations and are looking for special birthday greetings. Dima wrote on the shell: “Happy 80th birthday, Halina!” Artillery shells are fired at the invaders' trenches across the river.
“What do you want from the Russians?” asks Andriy.
“I hope they go back to where they came from. And they got what I wanted.”
“What is the most difficult thing about your job?”
“You can’t do that,” everyone says. “We need ammunition to liberate our land.”
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