How Ukraine's Marines Keep Taking More Land From Russia Across the Dnipro

Let's talk about what combined arms means in the Ukraine war context. Ukrainian Marines are not only continuing to hold their positions around Krynky on the Dnipro River's east bank - they are also making new incursions while slaughtering hundreds of Russians. 

They are doing so by coordinating their assaults with electronic warfare efforts that jam Russian drones, making it difficult for the Russians to identify their movements. The result is that the Ukrainian presence on the east bank is growing - just in time for spring. JL  

David Axe reports in Forbes:

Not only are Kyiv’s marines hanging on in Krynky, they cross the river in other spots—either for raids or, to seize a second bridgehead. Most recently, marines slipped across the river near the blasted Antonovsky Bridge, near Kherson, 19 miles west of Krynky, and dug in. To get across the river and into the dachas, the Ukrainians jammed Russian drones. By coordinating electronic warfare and troop movements, the Ukrainians create drone dead-zones—and exploit those zones to move their forces. The Dachi operation reminds us how the Ukrainians execute cross-river ops and that those tactics work. It’s the Russians who thave been dying by the hundreds while trying, and failing, to dislodge the Ukrainians.

Five months ago, Ukrainian marines motored across the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine and, under the cover of intensive drone-jamming, seized a bridgehead in Krynky, a fishing village on the otherwise Russian-held left bank of the wide river.

The New York Times famously quoted a traumatized marine describing the Krynky operation as “suicide” for the outnumbered Ukrainians. In fact, it’s the Russians who have been dying by the hundreds while trying, and so far failing, to dislodge the Ukrainians.

Not only are Kyiv’s marines hanging on in Krynky, they occasionally cross the river in other spots—either for there-and-back raids or, less likely, in an attempt to seize a second bridgehead.

We know this because sometimes the Russians locate and attack the marines—and, in reporting their counterattacks, reveal the latest Ukrainian operation across the river.

Most recently, marines slipped across the river near the blasted Antonovsky Bridge, near Kherson city 19 miles west of Krynky, and dug in in Dachi, a former vacation community. According to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies, marines “hold positions in the summer houses,” or dachas.

It’s evident, from Russian social media, how the marines managed to get across the river and into the dachas. They jammed the Russian drones that otherwise would be watching, and attacking, from overhead.

This jamming probably isn’t constant, as it also would interfere with Ukrainian drones. But by coordinating electronic warfare and troop movements, the Ukrainians can create temporary drone dead-zones—and exploit those dead-zones to move their forces.

The on-off pulse of Ukrainian jamming might explain what happened in Dachi earlier this week. Russian marines from the 810th Brigade spotted, with a drone, a Ukrainian Bukovel radio-jammer that, when switched on, can scramble a drone’s control signal from as far as 30 miles away.

The Bukovel was nestled in a concrete structure under the ruined Antonovsky Bridge, making it a tough target. To destroy the $50,000 Bukovel, the Russians had to deploy a helicopter firing a $230,000 Izdeliye 305 guided missile.

Jam then assault. That’s how the Ukrainians crossed the Dnipro into Krynky back in October—and apparently how they crossed into Dachi.

Whether the Ukrainians hang on in Dachi remains to to be seen. There have been cross-river raids around Antonovsky Bridge in the last year or so that didn’t lead to a enduring Ukrainian presence on the left bank. And the marines in Dachi already are under pressure. Last week, Russian rockets struck a dacha ostensibly sheltering some Ukrainian marines.

Regardless of its permanence, the Dachi operation is important. It reminds us how the Ukrainians execute their cross-river ops—and also reminds us that those tactics work in Krynky, in Dachi and anywhere else along the Dnipro the Ukrainians choose to concentrate their troops and jammers.