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Battle Of Voznesensk: Ukrainians Won Confrontation Thus Saving Odesa

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Battle Of Voznesensk: Ukrainians Won Confrontation Thus Saving Odesa

The Ukrainian army, Territorial Defense, and the common people destroyed a major part of the Russian battalion tactical group.

The battle of Ukrainian Voznesensk, the details of which are only emerging now, two weeks later, is a story of how the Ukrainian forces, which comprised local volunteers and the professional military, defended the southern town and stopped the enemy's advance on Odesa.

Voznesensk is located a few dozen kilometers from the Black Sea coast, not far from Mykolaiv, which is heavily shelled by the Russians, and a little further from Russian-occupied Kherson. If Russian troops took Voznesensk, it would help them to besiege Odesa from the north-east, where the Russians had already tried several times to land from the sea. The capture of Odesa, in turn, would help the Russians secure control over all of southern Ukraine, writes Wall Street Journal.

Instead, the two-day battle of Voznesensk turned decisively against the Russians. Judging from the destroyed and abandoned armor, Ukrainian forces eliminated most of a Russian battalion tactical group on March 2 and 3.

The Ukrainian defenders’ performance against a much-better-armed enemy in an overwhelmingly Russian-speaking region was successful in part because of widespread popular support for the Ukrainian cause—one reason the Russian invasion across the country has failed to achieve its principal goals so far.

Russian survivors of the Voznesensk battle left behind nearly 30 of their 43 vehicles—tanks, armored personnel carriers, multiple-rocket launchers, trucks—as well as a downed Mi-24 attack helicopter, according to Ukrainian officials in the city.

The course of the battle

Even before the start of the Russian attack, the banks of the Mertvovod River, which is located near Voznesensk, were dug up, to prevent armored vehicles from crossing the river. The locals blocked most of the streets in order to lure the Russian column to where the artillery could easily attack it. Ukrainian forces also blew up two bridges.

The Russian assault began with missile strikes and shelling that hit central Voznesensk. Helicopters dropped Russian air-assault troops in a forested ridge southwest of Voznesensk, as an armored column drove from the southeast.

The Russian soldiers hiding in the fields and rural buildings came under heavy Ukrainian shelling. Artillery fire was directed by local residents from the Territorial Defense, who shared the coordinates of the enemy with the Ukrainian army via the Viber messenger. The result is a direct hit on some of the elements of the column.

Meanwhile, other Ukrainian soldiers and fighters approached the Russian positions on foot and opened fire on them with Javelin portable missile systems. When the Russian transport caught fire, the soldiers abandoned it and fled the battlefield, either on foot or in BTRs that still had fuel. They left behind ammunition.

Around 15 Russian tanks and vehicles left in Voznesensk are intact or can be repaired.

After the battle for Voznesensk, electricity supply resumed in the city, there have been no more interruptions in the Internet, gas and water supply. ATMs have money, supermarkets have food. Now the front is already far from Voznesensk, and the city is slowly getting used to peaceful life.

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