Clearing operation and capture of prisoner in Mala Tokmachka: account by Deputy Commander of 3rd Battalion of 123rd TDF Brigade

Author: Bohdan Papadin

Over the past year, a commander of the 123rd Territorial Defense Forces (TDF) Brigade has carried out dozens of combat missions to Mala Tokmachka, taken part in clearing operations, captured occupiers, evacuated the wounded, and supplied infantry with ammunition and provisions, while after missions he fed dogs and cats abandoned in the village. In the interview, the officer speaks about the most dangerous operations, enemy losses, his family, and explains why being "written off" is not yet an option for him.

- How many sorties did you carry out to Mala Tokmachka over the past year?

- A great many. There were periods, lasting six or seven months, when we made two or three trips a week to Mala Tokmachka. I was hardly ever at headquarters.

(video showing an occupier being taken prisoner in a house)

- When our infantry went to inspect this house, one of our men was wounded by the enemy from the basement. How many of them were there was unclear; I assumed there were one or two. Before that, they had been massing and infiltrating the eastern part of the village. They were getting nowhere: they were being detected and killed. Then they decided simply to move out onto the railway tracks and advance deeper into the village, toward the prison. They chose the railway station as their assembly point.

I planned who would enter from where and who would provide cover in which position.

- How many soldiers did you take with you?

- There were three of them, and I was the fourth. I calculated that this would be enough. Plus, we were also carrying provisions with us, so it was impossible to take more people. We moved out, dismounted, checked all the houses in front of the building where the enemy was sitting, and everything around it was clear. We then entered the building where the enemy was. He had gone in there earlier, brought in his belongings, and then came out to pick up a package, our package, which the "Vampire" had dropped — water, food...

- You took an anti-tank mine with you. So you had already planned to blow up the building.

- Yes, because the enemy was sitting there, we decided not to look inside, but simply to throw in an anti-tank mine with a delay mechanism, which our combat engineers had made for us. One mine was enough — half the building collapsed.

- Which brigade or regiment was this prisoner from?

- The 42nd Rifle Division, the 70th Regiment. Since it was positioned there, that is where they are pushing from.

- How many Russian assault troops did you leave without their motorcycles?

Two for sure, the ones who drove in. One stayed there, and our guys took one prisoner. I rode out of Tokmachka on the same vehicle they had driven in on. It was summer. That second katsap was eaten by dogs and cats; I saw his remains.

In 2025, every mission I make to Tokmachka means a bag of food: pasta, bread, canned food. I arrive, leave the bag under a tree, we carry out the mission, and then I take that bag and go feed a dog that lives somewhere in a basement.

- You also feed cats and dogs...

Yes, I feel the sorriest for them. We evacuated one dog because he would meet us and follow us around.

- How do you select the people who will go on a clearing operation? How do they react?

- There is no spark in their eyes (he laughs. - Ed.). My communications officer, Shum, goes with me all the time.

- And why does Shum trust you so much... after all, this means constant contact with the enemy; it is dangerous.

- He has already been with me. He knows I will not leave him in trouble, and if anything happens, we will be together. Sometimes I take people who have been sitting around too long; they need to be taken out for a walk.

- What words of motivation do you say to people in such a situation? Is there an example of a dialogue?

- I call and say: "Congratulations, you have won a trip to Mala Tokmachka, get ready." I tell him what he needs there, what to take, what I am taking, what he is taking, so that, so to speak, we do not duplicate grenades or single-use launchers, and so it is simply not too heavy. I explain what it will all look like. So that people understand what we will be doing, who will follow whom, and who will be responsible for what. And I either send it to them or we meet in person; plus, before the mission, we gather earlier and run through it once again, talk everything through. We gather, and then, if the weather allows, we move out. There were a great many missions; we covered a great many kilometers on foot. Everything was carried in for the guys: food, ammunition, weapons.

For example, if the Russians were preparing an assault and we knew about it, I would also take a reconnaissance sergeant from headquarters with me. And we would simply take disposable tubes, grenade launchers, and go from position to position, distributing the grenade launchers. So as not to bother the infantry. He and I would load ammunition and machine guns onto handcarts, and a vehicle would take us. And that was it; we went to deliver all of it.

- So, in effect, you’re carrying out the duties of a rigger, is that right?

- Yes. I’m doing a soldier’s job, so to speak. Basically, all this was done because we understood that we wanted to help the infantry stationed there as much as possible. There was a realisation that if I didn’t go now, if I didn’t do this, if I didn’t take the initiative, then that’s just how things would stay. And, basically, no one would help them: no one would deliver the very weapons that were used during the assaults.

Video clip and account of reaching the position

It was 29 April 2025. It so happened that the situation with personnel there was very bad; there was no one to take over at the positions. Three soldiers were selected from the communications platoon, and I was the senior among them. We were supposed to go to the position, two people to each position. We split up; I went with Shum, my partner. And two communications soldiers went to another position. I suspect the enemy detected us from far away, because there was an open area there, about 200 meters of field, and we were simply walking across it very slowly, because we were already exhausted from carrying all of it. We were heading toward the bus stop. We simply approached it and then heard the sound of a drone hovering ahead.

I contacted the battalion command and observation post and asked whether it was our drone or not. They said it was not ours. Well, I already understood that it was there; either it had seen us and was hovering, or it had just arrived, maybe had not noticed us and was circling. So we stood under the bus stop for a minute or two, and then the next drone arrived, already with a munition drop. And, in principle, as soon as it flew out, I shouted for everyone to scatter; we began to run in different directions, and it dropped a VOG right under the guy’s feet, severing his leg. Well, then we started dragging him, and then it was drone after drone, FPVs, artillery; at that point, so to speak, they threw everything they had at us. When they saw three men in the middle of the field dragging one man, they hit us with everything they had.

(video shows a fragment of repelling drones)

Had the enemy been as active then as it is now, I think we would not have made it out; we would not even have reached the nearest tree line.

- What happened to that soldier?

- He spent a year undergoing treatment, and now, after treatment, he is going through the discharge process.

- Roughly how many troops did the enemy lose in the assaults? Can you say?

- I will not speak only about the penal colony, but also about the eastern part of Tokmachka. That was also our area of responsibility; later they shortened it a little for us because we had a bit of a personnel problem and handed it over to another battalion. So, in principle, during our time here, from the moment we have been here, well, I think it amounts to two companies. That includes the enemy who were killed not in the village itself, for example, but on the outskirts, on the approaches. In the tree lines from the Mariupol highway, when they were detected. So, I think at least two companies, that is for sure.

- That is 200 personnel?

- Yes.

- In one year?

- Yes.

- On such a narrow section of the front?

- Yes.

- When did your combat path begin?

- It began in 2022. I was abroad when the war started. I stayed there for another month, held out for a while, and then decided to go home and fight. I made the decision, bought a ticket, went home, spent some more time at home, a month or two, sorted out my own affairs, and then I got a call from the military enlistment office and went there. Well, in principle, that is how I was drafted. At first, I was a commander of an infantry platoon in the first battalion of this brigade, where I am serving now. Then I transferred to the fifth battalion, which has now been renamed the third battalion. And from there, my combat path, my career, so to speak, began. I came here as commander of a reconnaissance platoon, and then moved on to the post of reconnaissance group officer, chief of reconnaissance, and deputy commander. Well, in principle, the work did not change; as the position changed, the work did not change. Everything remained the same. If there is a need to go somewhere, move through an area, clear something, or bring infantry in, deliver ammunition or provisions, all of that gets done. You do not look at your position; all efforts go to the infantry, so that the infantry can fight and sit in their positions as comfortably as possible, so that they lack nothing.

- Do you have a family?

- Yes, a family, two children, a wife. Everything is like with all normal people. Mature people, so to speak.

- How does your wife react to the fact that you are already in your fifth year of war?

- She reacts negatively to the fact that I am not at home. The children are growing up, and you see them very rarely, once every six months. Of course, that is very unpleasant, but right now there is no other way out. For now, it has to be this way. It will not be different for the time being. So you have to live the way you can for now.

- What question does your wife ask you most often?

- When are you finally going to get discharged? That question comes up all the time. Sometimes, so to speak, in a humorous tone, sometimes simply with irony, with despair, she asks when I will get discharged.

- What do you usually answer?

- I say, tomorrow. Or today, toward evening, I say I will already be home. Everyone understands everything, so in principle, for now, it all comes down to jokes.

- What operation are you planning next?

- I would plan another trip to the prison area. I would like to go back to the prison area. But we need more young, strong guys who will not be afraid; we need to work with them. I need to be able to rely on them, to know that at first contact they will not turn around and run somewhere, that they will not freeze, so that I can be confident. But for that, we need to have them, and we need to work with them. Since we are given little infantry, young infantry, so to speak, fresh infantry, we have what we have. I choose from those who are available.