Members of the Ukrainian 37th Marine Brigade patrolling the southern front line in Ukraine.
THEY have Nato equipment and Western training. Some have English-speaking commanders, unusual in the Ukrainian military, and even an American-accented, evangelical chaplain.
“I am never tired, I’m in the Ukrainian marines,” joked Oleksandr, 28, a battalion commander of the 37th Marine Brigade. Sitting down in the shade outside a cottage near the front line, he was determinedly positive. “I think it’s going well.”
Over the past several months, nine Ukrainian brigades, 36,000 troops in all, have received four to six weeks of training in combined arms combat, a synchronised way of fighting that some thought would enable them to spearhead another rout of the Russian military, as in Kharkiv last year.
Medics treating a marine who had just lost his foot in a mine explosion.
But some brigades suffered heavy losses in the initial stages of this summer’s counteroffensive, struggling to advance against the formidable Russian defences. At least one new brigade was so badly debilitated from casualties that it was withdrawn from the battlefield to rebuild.
Most of the fighting has been hidden from the view of the news media since the start of operations in early June. But reporters from The New York Times were permitted to visit several marine brigades – two of them newly formed – that are operating on one part of the southern front to hear from the troops themselves about their role in the counteroffensive.
Ukraine’s new brigades, trained and equipped according to Nato standards, have a different look and feel from many other Ukrainian units. These marines now carry American M4 assault rifles and drive Humvees, which they repainted, changing the desert brown of the vehicles so often seen in Afghanistan and Iraq to a deep green for better cover in Ukraine’s lush countryside.
The 37th Marine Brigade firing toward Russian positions near the southern front line.
“I did not expect we would switch to Nato weapons so soon,” said Ukrop, 23, a company commander in the 38th Marine Brigade who, like all the marines interviewed for this article, gave only first names or call signs, in keeping with military protocol.
He watched as men from his unit loaded two laser-guided rockets into a launcher on the back of a Humvee for a firing mission. “It’s a great new system and we have new vehicles too,” he added.
The new brigades are made up of recruits, fresh from basic training after they were called up or volunteered to join the military this year. Their commanders are mostly experienced fighters, and some, like Oleksandr, a lieutenant-colonel, who has completed officer training in the United States, are career officers.
They all have a strong sense of urgency – “We have to do this fast,” one said – but they also warned that the fight would be long and hard.
“A lot of people thought it would be very fast and in the autumn we would be in Crimea,” said Oleksandr, the battalion commander. “But every metre of the tree line is very difficult.”
“It’s not a sprint,” he added. “It’s a marathon.”
A chaplain anointing soldiers after a joint prayer. — ©2023 The New York Times Company
The Ukrainian military does not release numbers of dead and wounded, but Oleksandr acknowledged that his brigade had taken heavy casualties in the first days of the counteroffensive in June, when his troops ran into minefields and came under an onslaught of Russian artillery and airstrikes.
“I lost a lot,” he said, “and some of the new guys are mentally broken.”
The heavy losses were not a shock to them. Most of the commanders said they had seen units, including their own, decimated at times during the past 16 months of fighting. Oleksandr said casualties were so high during the counteroffensive in Kherson last year that he had been forced to replace the members of his unit three times.
While the Ukrainian military was training the new brigades and obtaining new equipment, the Russian forces had months to prepare a layered defence, digging in and laying extensive minefields. They also had the advantage of greater artillery fire and troop numbers, Oleksandr said.
The marines said they were grateful for the various Western armoured vehicles, which they said saved lives and were superior to the outdated Soviet-era tanks and armoured vehicles that they had been using. But above all, commanders were taking care to give further training to recruits and making sure they were mixed in with more experienced marines for operations.
“You cannot be completely prepared for combat however much you train,” said Shturval, 52, who was overseeing training for a group of recruits brought in to make up for recent losses in the 35th Marine Brigade. “In the first fight, they go in with our veterans, and after two or three battles they are veterans themselves.”
Planning and reconnaissance was the key, said Prophet, 22, a company commander from the 38th brigade who had just led a successful assault, seizing control of three tree lines in a combined operation on the southern front.
The Russian forces were so tied up with battling other Ukrainian units on one flank that his troops were able to seize territory with minimal losses, he said.
“You cannot underestimate the enemy,” he said. “The enemy is strong and cunning. So this counteroffensive requires steady preparation,” said Consul, a lieutenant-colonel.
He said it had been wrong to think that the counteroffensive would be swift and easy, adding that when the military commanders found a weakness where they could push through, they would.
“Bit by bit, we will find a place where the seam will split open,” Consul said. “Water cuts through stone, and we’ll do the same, bit by bit. At first it is a small stream and then it turns into a river.” — ©2023 The New York Times Company
