Back from the Kherson front in southern Ukraine, a Frenchman who is fighting with the Ukrainians tells how all the pieces of the counter-offensive puzzle are falling into place.
His name is Max and his alias is “Azadi” for “freedom” in Kurdish. A nom de guerre which dates from his involvement in the Middle East against the Islamic State organization in 2015. Seven years later, in March 2022, he left France where he broke his judicial control, while justice accused him of having recruited French and foreign fighters in Iraq. On the southern front in Ukraine, along the Dnieper River, he has been with a separate reconnaissance battalion for more than a year.
>> War in Ukraine: Ukrainian units trained in Europe and the United States for a counter-offensive against Russia
What immediately catches the eye when you see this enthusiastic soldier, in his thirties, are his hands, damaged, with raw blisters on the top. “We were on a mission and they bombarded us with incendiary and white phosphorus munitions.says Max. It falls on your skin and it reacts with water. Above all, do not put water on it because it makes things worse. You have to cut the skin.”
Two weeks ago, Max was still in combat, at the foot of a bridge, on the left bank of the Dnieper, on the Russian side therefore, for a complicated reconnaissance operation: “We’ve had our feet on the left bank for about a month and a half. The Russians are retreating. Everything has been cleaned up from the south of Kherson to go up to the north, to really clean up the delta. We can do come from the humanitarian and the military in Kherson. We will be able to advance almost 200 km. Some operations which required to be withdrawn. It is a huge leap for us. “
A slow and laborious recovery
This “huge leap” is also preparing at the rear. Max carried out around thirty missions this winter. The rest of the time he lives in Kherson. The city was reconquered on November 11, 2022, it has been the rear base of operations in the region for a few weeks. “We see some convoys with vehicles that are completely covered, something that we had never seen before”explains Max.
“We also see new soldiers in town. They are fresh out of the mold, whereas before, when we arrived in Kherson, there is almost no military in the city, it was only the police.”
Max, French committed alongside the Ukrainiansat franceinfo
The counter-offensive is preparing, but we must expect, according to Max, a slow and laborious reconquest against a tough opponent. Nothing to do with the Ukrainian advances in the summer and then in the fall of 2022: “At the moment they are in defensive mode. They have time to do everything professionally. You can see the difference between the Ukrainian trenches from the Russian trenches, they are two opposite worlds.”
“The Russians are very well organized to make trenches. The Ukrainians are just going to make a hole. The Russians are going to make a hole with an offset on the side and even deeper. So suddenly, even if a bomb falls, the fragments won’t fit inside. It’s going to be definitely hot.”
Max, French committed alongside the Ukrainiansat franceinfo
For the moment, the weather conditions are not met. “It’s hard to fight in the mud, it’s tiring and it damages the equipmentunderlines the soldier. I think we have to wait another good month.” Until the soil is dry.