Inside Ukraine's covert Center 73, where clandestine missions shape the war behind the frontline (www.independent.co.uk)
from geophysicist@discuss.tchncs.de to world@lemmy.world on 26 Dec 2023 21:05
https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/8350212

#world

threaded - newest

autotldr@lemmings.world on 26 Dec 2023 21:05 next collapse

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Skif, Ukrainian shorthand for the nomadic Scythian people who founded an empire on what is now Crimea, moves like the camouflaged amphibian that he is: Calculating, deliberate, until the time to strike.

In the operation’s opening days, on June 6, an explosion destroyed the dam, sending a wall of reservoir water downstream, killing untold numbers of civilians, and washing out the Ukrainian army positions.

The locals who refused to evacuate have all become accustomed to the sounds of war, so even their unnerving calm in the face of air raid alarms, nearby gunfire and artillery doesn’t seem unusual.

The men had the most modern equipment, night-vision goggles, waterproof rifles that can be assembled in a matter of seconds, underwater breathing apparatus that produces no surface bubbles, and cloaks that hide their heat signature during nighttime raids.

They wake around sunset, load gear into a 4X4 and drive to a different point on the riverbank to scout new routes for a counteroffensive, provoke Russian forces into shooting at them to pinpoint the enemy’s location, retrieve soggy caches of supplies with their boat.

And that’s how, in mid-October, a Ukrainian drone carrying the national blue and yellow flag came to fly above Krynky at just the moment Skif and his men made their way to the occupied village across the river.


The original article contains 1,879 words, the summary contains 219 words. Saved 88%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

intelshill@lemmy.ca on 26 Dec 2023 22:25 collapse

Is this claiming Ukraine took down the dam?

mea_rah@lemmy.world on 26 Dec 2023 23:07 next collapse

No? Where did you get that impression?

geophysicist@discuss.tchncs.de on 27 Dec 2023 00:30 collapse

No, they stated that the dam destruction set back their river crossing breachhead plan by 6 months