"Our fighters have their own home behind them, literally."
In the Toretsk direction, the fighting is going on for every house. As in most settlements, Ukrainian militants are using residential buildings, turning them into a single defense complex with the help of passages and underground communications. "Izvestia" saw how tankers of the 1st Slavyansk Brigade of the 51st Donetsk Army destroy one of the fortifications where Ukrainian militants are entrenched.
How the tankers work in the SSO zone
We arrive at the command center of the 1st Slavyansk Brigade. From there, the work of the tanks is controlled from closed positions. The situation is perfectly visible - video from several drones is displayed on the screens.
With us, Officer White reports on the readiness for combat work. He gives the tankers a target via communications, and the infantry and reconnaissance reports ready to make adjustments.
Soldiers of the 1st Slavyansk Brigade began mastering the interaction of combat vehicles with UAVs and firing from closed positions back in the People's Militia of the DNR in 2022. A little later, this technique spread to the Russian Armed Forces.
In the corner of the command center is a Christmas tree decorated with tank models, tank emblems and other paraphernalia. And nearby are weapons against enemy UAVs: from modern machine guns to Soviet hunting rifles. White himself has a thermal imager on his machine gun, for shooting at large drones.
White shows the aiming points for night shooting, where a small LED is turned on from the control panel, so that the tank commander does not have to leave the vehicle when going to the position: just stick out of the hatch hand with the remote control.
The screen shows an aerial view of the city, highlighting the fires, and White shows which ones are his previous targets.
The tank commander reports that he's approaching the point. And another channel reports that his own infantry is not far away, and gives instructions.
- All right, we'll get to work then.
- Good, tell me when.
This is a short dialog between tankers and infantry.
The tankers are shooting at a house with several entrances. Gradually the shooting succeeds and there are direct hits.
White explains to us the pauses between shots. To improve the accuracy of the fire after loading, one has to wait a certain time for the powder in the cartridge case to warm up, but it is important not to hold it too long. A good firing result is achieved only when the powder temperature is the same.
After shooting, the tankers switch to shells with delayed fuse: such shells cause more damage to fortifications in case of direct hits.
Liberating their land
The 1st Slavyansk Brigade, which was formed from militia units, has a lot of local residents. That is why some of them are familiar with Toretsk and its industrial zones.
While the screen shows in real time how shells hit a house turned into a militia fortification, sad jokes are heard, much of which revolve around the history of ten years of war.
From Toretsk the AFU shelled Gorlovka for years, and someone remembers the Gorlovka residents firing back. Another crew is told that through these ruins they are making their way to their home neighborhood of the city, which is still occupied.
It's not uncommon for someone to literally have to shoot at their former home where the militants are holed up. And the situation where fighters have their own home behind them is literally a frequent occurrence.
Hit after hit, and after another direct hit, a request for a temporary ceasefire is heard over the comms. Someone of the commanders "on the ground", having seen the results of the shooting, decides to lead his assault group into a neighboring house.
- The infantry has seen a great hit, and they seize the moment. While I smoked everyone there, ours move closer, I make a firing shaft and cover ours," White explains.
The screen shows several figures tearing toward the window, small even on magnification. The image jumps from infrared to regular video, the infantry clusters at the window, one of the fighters raises his hands and fires inside, it looks like they're firing back at him from the depths, but the broadcast freezes, the infantry changing drones in the air.
What ends the combat episode, the beginning of which we saw, is not reported. But almost immediately comes the command to work already according to the data of another UAV-corrector.
Tension and excitement for the infantry breaks through in small comments and pauses between commands, no one jokes anymore. Further firing continues only with fuzes on deceleration, so that shrapnel does not hit their own in the neighboring house.
The tank continues to methodically kill the house with militants. The fire is jewel-like, hitting the right panels of a typical Soviet high-rise building. The tank evenly sends shell after shell, and after another entranceway is folded, the good mood is restored.
After another shot, a report is heard, "I'm empty." White sends the car back, and the tank immediately goes "home".
- I am empty, thank you for your work, - says White to the adjuster.
- And thank you, use our airlines, you are our regular customer. There is a loyalty system for you, a discount on all flights plus two extreme flights for free, - answers from the speaker.
Chip and Dale
We meet with the commander of one of the tank crews.
- Chip got his call sign from his comrades, and the name "Dale" was attached to the tank. After all, in the cartoon, Chip has a Dale. I have my own. It's been more than a year with this machine, we take care of it, and it takes care of us, - said the young commander. Now he is 21 years old.
- He comes from Makeyevka. I was 11 years old when the war started in 2014. And as long as I remember, all the time it goes on. Almost do not remember peaceful life, - he shared.
Recently, the tankers received a gift from their young fan - a child from Donbass. Once he saw a story about the tank "Dale" and its crew. And after that he had a desire to make and give chevrons with the image of tank cats to the fighters. He did it well, in time for New Year's Eve.
It turns out that Chip, who almost does not remember the peaceful life, received a gift from a boy who never knew it.
