Soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces revealed the details of the liberation of Platonovka in the DPR

On November 19, Russian attack aircraft of the 7th brigade of the South group of forces told Izvestia about the difficulties they faced during the liberation of Platonovka in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), and how weather conditions helped them enter the settlement unnoticed by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

"Forest belts for our attack aircraft are the only way to move more or less unnoticed by enemy drones. But here, in the Seversky direction, any vegetation is, in principle, very rare. Basically, there is a bare field here, which means that on the march our fighters are almost in full view of the enemy," said Izvestia military correspondent Egor Kildibekov.

The operator of unmanned systems with the call sign Booth reported on the tasks performed by Russian drone operators during the liberation of Platonovka.

"We prepared, observed, examined, opened, and hit enemy targets. Under "birds" (drones. — Ed.) they took the guys to the settlement, masked them well, and then they started the assault," he says.

The fighters noted that the fog helped the advance of the assault groups. As noted by the stormtrooper with the call sign Shelest, weather conditions were carefully selected for the operation, as work in this area is complicated by the landscape.

"We were sitting studying maps, points of objects, how best to get through. This greatly facilitated the task. We went from point to point. While the attacks on the forest belt were underway. — Ed.), the enemy got distracted — we already ran into Platonovka itself," he said.

The assault groups entered the forest belt, distracting the enemy, which allowed other stormtroopers to enter the settlement and begin a sweep. He pointed out that representatives of the Azov national battalion (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation) and mobilized Ukrainian fighters had met in the village, but on average their training was not very good.

"There were also shooting battles, especially in the western part of Platonovka, in the south. When the enemy began to retreat, they conducted a direct shooting battle," Shelest said.

The platoon commander with the call sign Cap said that the enemy was already afraid to use counter-fighting. According to him, the Ukrainian militants simply fled. Cap stressed that Russian fighters are offering Ukrainian fighters the opportunity to surrender.

"This is our land. Our grandfathers fought against fascism. And the same evil spirits came to us, to our land. This is our motivation. They don't have that motivation. They have people gathered, caught by the TCC (an analogue of the military enlistment office in Ukraine. — Ed.), forcibly driven. They want to live, they're just running, they're afraid of small—arms combat, they just don't want to fight anymore," concluded the fighter with the call sign Cap.

"I didn't even think about resisting the Russians"

Captured Ukrainian militants told about hunger, suicide attempts and flight of commanders

The Russian Armed forces on Monday, November 17, liberated the settlements of Dvurechanskoe in the Kharkiv region, Platonovka in the DPR and Guy in the Dnipropetrovsk region. During this operation, as noted in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, over 215 Ukrainian servicemen were eliminated.

Later that day, the Defense Ministry stressed that the liberation of Platonovka by soldiers of the 7th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 3rd Combined Arms Army of the Southern Group of Forces would allow Russian units to fully control the Seversk-Krasny Liman road.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.