Toro
Diamond Member
I think we all are.
“We’re in shock at how dumb their behavior is,” said another member of the Ukrainian special-forces unit who has been going on missions in the area every night. His unit, he said, had lost two soldiers since the war began nine days ago, and killed more than 60 Russians in recent days. “Now, we mostly focus on hitting their rear, their supply convoys, because if they don’t get fuel, they can’t do anything.”
Morale among Ukrainian defenders was high in Irpin on Friday, even as a Russian attack airplane flew low over a housing block and sounds of artillery rounds landing got closer and closer. Big plumes of black smoke rose to the north and south of town, along other major routes where Russian forces have been trying for more than a week to break into Kyiv.
“The Russians keep trying to enter and to encircle us, but they just can’t. We are together, we are organized, and we are strong-willed,” said Alyona Pavlova, an Irpin native and a soldier who was helping evacuate civilians from the town on Friday. “It’s a real war—and nobody was really ready at first, because nobody really believed that Russia would do something this mad.”
Ukraine’s Special Forces Hold Off Russian Offensive on Kyiv’s Front Lines
Antitank weapons and antiaircraft missiles from the West have made make a big difference, as have the Russians’ Soviet-style tactics, Ukrainian officers say.
www.wsj.com