Ukrainian soldiers reveal how they were secretly moved ahead of new Russian invasion
Members of a Ukrainian brigade have described how they were secretly relocated to help defend a section of the country’s border with Russia a few days before a new invasion began.
The commander of an artillery unit from 57 Brigade said his guns were even firing at Russian troops the day before the ground incursion into the northeastern region of Kharkiv, which started on 10 May. He said the forces had been “brazenly” amassing on the Russian side of the border.
“We were hitting tanks on the border… it was already a real war,” said Sasha, 26, who uses the callsign “black”.
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The commander of a second artillery unit similarly confirmed the brigade had been moved early to bolster defences in this direction.
The troops had previously been defending the city of Kupiansk, also in Kharkiv.
Sasha, an artillery battery commander of the 57 Brigade
The comments offer a sense of how Ukraine attempted – ahead of time – to scramble forces to counter a Russian build-up along its long, northeastern border.
But the move was nowhere near enough to prevent the largest assault into Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion almost two and a half years ago.
A Ukrainian source, describing the first few days of the Kharkiv offensive just over a week ago, said there had been moments when he feared “we had lost the frontline”.
The source said the situation had since stabilised but warned: “We don’t know how long it could be like this”.
Sky News on Saturday tried to visit an artillery position, manned by soldiers from 57 Brigade, just outside the town of Vovchansk – a key target of the Russian offensive.
While trying to reach an artillery position, a Sky News crew was told to turn back for safety
As we approached at speed by road, a soldier travelling with us said we had to pull over because he needed to communicate via radio with troops on the gunline.
Suddenly a voice over the radio could be heard saying: “Don’t come here. Don’t come at all.”
We were told it was too dangerous to travel further and we had to leave. It was not immediately clear what was happening on the ground.
At a makeshift base, safely back from the frontline, the artillery unit commander Sasha uses electronic maps on a tablet and laptop to confirm targets for his guns to attack.
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He said he and his team relocated from the Kupiansk front on the 4 to 5 May.
“We were indeed moved here earlier,” Sasha said. But he signalled he would have liked longer to prepare.
“I don’t know all the situation and why it happened like this. But I know for sure that to better repel [an attack], we might need either more time or better-prepared positions,” he said.
“Ahead of the assault, we were already hitting targets on Russian territory because we knew they were gathering there. They were brazenly assembling.”
Sasha described the moment the Russians started to advance.
He said it began with three hours of artillery fire against Ukrainian targets before ground troops crossed the border.
“I would love that they [the Russians] had been stopped at the border,” he said.
Soldiers say they could inflict more damage on Russian soldiers if they had more ammunition and better weapons
Instead, a fierce battle erupted, as Russian infantry, backed by airstrikes, drone attacks and artillery fire, pushed forward.
“For the first few days, they [the Russians] were storming our positions – columns of 30 to 50 soldiers. We were hitting them.”
In the chaos, Sasha said he worked to gather information to ensure his troops were able to operate.
“I am proud that my guys managed to do their best,” he said. “All credit to those who stayed on their artillery positions.”
A Soviet-era D-20 Howitzer artillery piece nicknamed “grandma” by soldiers
He described the frontline as initially being “fragile” but said reinforcements were now in place. The commander said Russia had lost the opportunity to make a significant breakthrough.
“Until now they had a chance. Even in my area, I knew where we had gaps where they could have slipped through. Now we don’t have such gaps,” he said.
“I am satisfied that we have managed to stabilise the situation.”
At a second artillery position, on a different section of a frontline that has expanded by some 40 miles in the wake of the new attack, a Soviet-era gun, hidden under netting and tree branches, points in the direction of Russia.
Shells used by the D-20 Howitzer artillery piece, which was built in the 1970s
Soldiers here said they would be able to inflict a lot more damage on the invaders if they had more ammunition and better weapons.
Nicknamed “grandma”, their D-20 Howitzer artillery piece, which fires 152mm shells, was built in the 1970s.
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“We’re saving our artillery shells right now. We fire one, they fire back five,” said one of the servicemen, who – at 50 years old – has the callsign “Grandpa”.
A second soldier said Russia has more weapons than his side.
Asked what difference additional munitions would make, he said with a laugh: “It would increase the number of dead Russians – 100%”.
Additional reporting by Azad Safarov, Ukraine producer
The twin threats of climate change and Russian malign activity in the Arctic must be taken “deadly seriously,” David Lammy has warned.
Sky News joined him on the furthest reaching tour of the Arctic by a British foreign secretary.
We travelled to Svalbard – a Norwegian archipelago that is the most northern settled land on Earth, 400 miles from the North Pole.
It is at the heart of an Arctic region facing growing geopolitical tension and feeling the brunt of climate change.
Mr Lammy told us the geopolitics of the region must be taken “deadly seriously” due to climate change and “the threats we’re seeing from Russia”.
We witnessed the direct impact of climate change along Svalbard’s coastline and inland waterways. There is less ice, we were told, compared to the past.
David Lammy and Norway’s Foreign Minister Barth Eide view the melting Blomstrandbreen glacier. Pic: PA
The melting ice is opening up the Arctic and allowing Russia more freedom to manoeuvre.
“We do see Russia’s shadow fleet using these waters,” Mr Lammy said. “We do see increased activity from submarines with nuclear capability under our waters and we do see hybrid sabotage of undersea cables at this time.”
In Tromso, further south, the foreign secretary was briefed by Norwegian military commanders.
The foreign secretary visiting SvalSat, a satellite ground station which monitors climate in Svalbard. Pic: PA
Vice Admiral Rune Andersen, the Chief of Norwegian Joint Headquarters, told Sky News the Russian threat was explicit.
“Russia has stated that they are in confrontation with the West and are utilising a lot of hybrid methods to undermine Western security,” he said.
But it’s not just Vladimir Putin they’re worried about. Norwegian observers are concerned by US president Donald Trump’s strange relationship with the Russian leader too.
Norwegian observers are concerned about the Russian leader – and Trump being ‘too soft’ on him. Pic: AP
Karsten Friis, a Norwegian defence and security analyst, told Sky News: “If he’s too soft on Putin, if he is kind of normalising relations with Russia, I wouldn’t be surprised.
“I would expect Russia to push us, to test us, to push borders, to see what we can do as Europeans.”
Changes in the Arctic mean new challenges for the NATO military alliance – including stepping up activity to deter threats, most of all from Russia.
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In Iceland, we toured a NATO airbase with the foreign secretary.
There, he said maintaining robust presence in the Arctic was essential for western security.
“Let’s be clear, in this challenging geopolitical moment the high north and the Arctic is a heavily contested arena and we should be under no doubt that NATO and the UK need to protect it for our own national security.”
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This is also about distracting Russia, drawing away resources that could have been used in the war in Ukraine and deterring it in the future.
Because the more Arctic opens up, the more this once pristine wilderness is becoming the arena of national rivalry and potentially conflict.
World
‘What did they do to be burned and bombed?’: Charity calls on UK to offer Gaza children life-saving treatment
A British charity has written to the prime minister and foreign secretary, urging them to allow seriously ill children from Gaza into the UK to receive life-saving medical treatment.
Warning: This article contains images readers may find distressing
The co-founder of Project Pure Hope told Sky News it was way past the time for words.
“Now, we need action,” Omar Dinn said.
He’s identified two children inside Gaza who urgently need help and is appealing to the UK government to issue visas as a matter of urgency.
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Britain has taken only two patients from Gaza for medical treatment in 20 months of Israeli bombardment.
Children are among the bulk of the casualties in Gaza
“Most of the people affected by this catastrophe that’s unfolding in Gaza are children,” he continued. “And children are the most vulnerable.
“They have nothing to do with the politics, and we really just need to see them for what they are.
“They are children, just like my children, just like everybody’s children in this country – and we have the ability to help them.”
Sky News has been sent video blogs from British surgeons working in Gaza right now which show the conditions and difficulties they’re working under.
They prepare for potential immediate evacuation whilst facing long lists, mainly of children, needing life-saving emergency treatment day after day.
Dr Victoria Rose is a British surgeon working in southern Gaza’s last remaining hospital
Dr Victoria Rose told us: “Every time I come, I say it’s really bad, but this is on a completely different scale now. It’s mass casualties. It’s utter carnage.
“We are incapable of getting through this volume. We don’t have the personnel. We don’t have the medical supplies. And we really don’t have the facilities.
“We are the last standing hospital in the south of Gaza. We really are on our knees now.”
One of her patients is three-year-old Hatem, who was badly burned when an Israeli airstrike hit the family apartment.
Karam, aged one, has a birth defect that could be easily fixed with surgery
His pregnant mother and father were both killed, leaving him an orphan. He has 35 percent burns on his small body.
“It’s a massive burn for a little guy like this,” Dr Rose says. “He’s so adorable. His eyelids are burnt. His hands are burnt. His feet are burnt.”
Hatem’s grandfather barely leaves his hospital bedside. Hatem Senior told us: “What did these children do wrong to suffer such injuries? To be burned and bombed? We ask God to grant them healing.”
Hatem Senior
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The second child identified by the charity is Karam, who, aged one, is trying to survive in a tent in deeply unhygienic surroundings with a protruding intestine.
He’s suffering from a birth defect called Hirschsprung disease, which could be easily operated on with the right skills and equipment – unavailable to him in Gaza right now.
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Karam, aged one, has a birth defect that could be easily fixed with surgery
Karam’s mother Manal told our Gaza camera crew: “No matter how much I describe how much my son is suffering, I wouldn’t be able to describe it enough. I swear I am constantly crying.”
Children are among the bulk of casualties – some 16,000 have been killed, according to the latest figures from local health officials – and make up the majority of those being operated on, according to the British surgical team on the ground.
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