An Marine’s officer fighting to defend the strip of land Ukraine has occupied on the left bank of the Dnipro River said that US aid has helped reduce the number of successful Russian glide bomb attacks on his squad’s position.
Speaking to The Times of London, Major Serhiy Pedenko, the deputy commander of 503 Battalion of Ukraine’s 38th Marine Brigade, said that the number of glide bombs hitting their position on the banks of the river had fallen from 80 a day to four.
Over the last six months, Russia has continually pounded Ukrainian targets with glide bombs — some weighing more than 3,000 pounds — from Russian fighter-bombers such as the Su-34.
The relatively cheap projectiles are crafted by attaching wings and satellite navigation systems to Soviet-era bombs.
This allows Russian bombers to release them from safer distances, making it hard for Ukraine to defend against such attacks.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said in March that Russia’s use of the bombs was its “main advantage on the battlefield,” allowing its forces “to destroy the targets of the strikes and advance through the ruins.”
But new US-supplied military equipment is finally reaching the front lines — and it appears to be making a difference.
Ukraine is using ATACMS missiles to strike Russian airbases in occupied Crimea and Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to protect the south of Ukraine.
“We’ve destroyed two Russian divisions here. They need to drive us out, so they attack with armoured personnel carriers, which our drones destroy. We kill maybe 30 Russians here for every one of our dead,” Pedenko told The Times.
“The Russians don’t understand how we’re holding this shoreline,” he added. “They bomb and then go in, but our guys are still holding on there, they are fighting, they’re pushing them back and they can’t figure it out. But it’s really hard there.”
After gaining a bridgehead on the far bank of the Dnipro at Krynky in October of last year, Ukrainian forces may have hoped to push deeper into Russian-occupied territory.
However, severe ammunition and equipment shortages allowed Russia to fight back.
Earlier this year, a former spokesperson for Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces, Natalia Humeniuk, said that Russians were conducting “human wave” assaults as they attempted to retake the village.
The situation at Krynky remains tense, with Ukraine suppressing four Russian attacks on the left bank of the Dnipro River near the village earlier this week, the Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine said on Telegram.
“The occupiers are putting pressure with artillery shelling, air strikes, using a large number of attack drones of various types, and continue aerial reconnaissance,” the post said.
“Our soldiers continue to take comprehensive measures to hold their positions,” it added.
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