With the help of “an eclectic army of local volunteers,” the Ukrainian army won a decisive battle in Voznesensk, a small town with a strategically important bridge, according to a BBC report. (Watch above)
If Russian forces captured the town, they could use the bridge to travel westward to Odesa, a large port city with a vulnerable nuclear power plant.
But three weeks ago, the Ukrainians destroyed the bridge and waged a relentless counterattack that destroyed “up to 30 tanks, armored cars and even a helicopter.” The Russians were forced to retreat over 60 miles to the east.
In the two-day battle of Voznesensk, the military and local volunteers repelled much-better-armed Russian forces, who fled leaving behind tanks, rocket launchers and dead soldiers. “The Russians didn’t expect us to be so strong.” https://t.co/VdU7caoEqg
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 17, 2022
“It’s hard to explain how we did it. It’s thanks to the fighting spirit of our local people and to the Ukrainian army,” Voznesensk’s 32-year-old mayor, Yevheni Velichko, told BBC News.
The outlet adds:
“It was a colossal effort by the whole town,” said Alexander, a local shopkeeper who filmed himself on the frontlines with an AK47, screaming “Come on my little beauties!” as another volunteer fired a rocket-propelled grenade towards Russian positions.
“We used hunting rifles, people threw bricks and jars. Old women loaded heavy sandbags.
“The Russians didn’t know where to look or where the next attack would come from. I’ve never seen the community come together like that,” he said, standing by the twisted wreckage of the bridge, which Ukrainian forces destroyed within hours of the first Russian attack.
Voznesensk resident Svetlana Nikolaevna told BBC News that the Russian converted her home into a makeshift hospital but eventually “loaded up their dead and their wounded and ran away.”
How a small Ukrainian town routed a Russian battalion tactical group. “The Russians had orders to come in, seize, and await further instructions. They had no orders for what to do if defeated. That, they didn’t plan for.” My page 1 report from Voznesensk. https://t.co/WD5xQRQjn9
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) March 17, 2022
A local funeral director collected Russian bodies from the countryside because he didn’t want them “frightening people even after their deaths.”
Many residents have since left Voznesensk, but the town is gearing up for another attack from the Russians. The mayor says they need more weapons from Western governments, which he says fueled their earlier victory.
“It’s only thanks to these weapons that we were able to beat our enemy here. And we say thank you to our partners for their support. But we need more. The enemy’s convoys will keep coming,” he said.
