They Broke Through. Heroes of Sector D Are Out of the Encirclement
As a result of three days of fierce fighting in the area of Chervonopartyzansk, Dovzhanske, Diakove the surrounded group of Ukrainian troops of the individual units of the 24th, 51st and 72nd mechanized, 79th Airmobile brigades, 3rd Regiment of Special Forces and the State Border Service made a successful breakthrough from the entrapment and moved to join up with the main forces of the Ukrainian troops.
Censor.NET editor-in-chief Yurii Butusov writes about the isolation of the troops:
TWENTY-TWO DAYS OF ENCIRCLEMENT! 22 days of continuous shelling and sudden attacks. 22 days of attacks by the mercenaries' tank groups. 22 days of counting each shell, each magazine, each ATGM. 22 days of sharing your MRE with your friend. 22 days of not being able to recover the bodies of fallen comrades from under fire for several days. 22 days of burying the dead in the nearby trenches - the Ministry of Defense issued an order ... 22 days of the wounded groaning next to you, and not knowing when they will be taken away...
The breakthrough was organized and took place under the toughest conditions - through endless minefields under continuous attacks of the Russian artillery, destroying ambushes of the Russian mercenaries. The heroes did not just save their lives - they have saved a large number of expensive military hardware.
At the moment, I only have the breakthrough losses numbers regarding the 72nd Bila Tserkva mechanized brigade. 3 soldiers were killed and a number of soldiers were injured.
According to unofficial data, Odesa border guards lost 5 soldiers who killed in the breakout.
I want to name only a few of these real heroes, who must be recognized by the whole country. The strike group of the 72th mechanized brigade was headed by Major Mikhailo Drapatyi. Battalion commander of self-propelled howitzers division Lt. Col. Dmytro Khrapach and rocket artillery battalion commander Volodymyr Blanutsa joined him in the breakthrough came.
410 soldiers of the 72th Brigade and over 500 soldiers of the 24th Brigade came out. I have no information on the numbers of the 79th brigade. Small groups of the 51st Brigade, 3rd Special Forces Regiment (originally few of them in the area) and the servicemen of the State Border Service also came out. I am waiting for information on the units of the 28th Mechanized Brigade, the National Guard and border guards in the area of Marynivka.
They escaped through the use of maneuver and fire. They were not victims - they flattened anyone who tried to block their way. They came out in tanks, IFVs, APCs, self-propelled howitzers, they saved the MLRS. They did not give up their weapons to the enemy. They destroyed everything that was faulty or damaged and had to be left behind.
They came out real HEROES OF UKRAINE. I will do everything I can to ensure that all parties involved in the fighting are known by name, that every soldier and every officer of the surrounded troops receive well-deserved rewards and public attention. These are the real warriors - in their spirit, in their patriotism, in their professional qualities.
Major Drapatyi is currently resting. The officers had not slept during the three days of the breakthrough.
But the list of heroes would be incomplete if we did not mention all the warriors of the 30th and 51st mechanized, 25th Airborne and 95th Airmobile brigades, which under heavy enemy fire conducted a strike towards the surrounded troops.
Owing to the self-sacrifice of these brigades Saur-Mohyla was taken and is completely controlled by our troops, an enemy stronghold in Stepanivka was taken, a bridgehead was established for withdrawal of our troops from the entrapment. They saved their comrades from heavy losses. They distracted the main forces of the Russian mercenaries, artillery and special forces.
It is important to note the achievements of our gunners from the 26th Artillery brigade.
In sector D stretched along the border with the Russian Federation there was no rear. The gunners and the rear were covered by Russian troops.
Special gratitude is due for the Ukrainian Air Force pilots, who made desperate attacks to destroy the enemy artillery and Grad systems and suffered the heaviest losses during the war in these attempts to save the encircled units in sector D. They flew on the mission with unsuppressed defense, despite the lack of modern means of electronic countermeasures, under the threat of numerous air defense - SAM Osa (Wasp), Strela-10 (Arrow-1), Buk-M1 with professional Russian units, guidance and control of which is carried out by Russian radars from the territory of Russia.
But the battle in sector D continues. We gave up a small section of the border but the troops continue to fight for the liberation of Ukraine.
Battle in the sector D is the most dramatic and heroic page of the Ukrainian War for Independence against Russian aggression.
Near Chervonopartyzanska, Dovzhanske, Zelenopillia, Diakove, Marynivka the state border is not demarcated and is only visible on the map. But our heroes have drawn the Ukrainian border line with their blood.
We bow to our heroes. Eternal memory to the fallen. The war continues ...
