Exclusive footage of the hunt for the 205th Brigade of the RF Armed Forces on the islands of the Dnipro | Bohdan Papadin

Speaker 1

Dinner, dinner, they are bringing it, let's not touch.

Speaker 2

In their heads it was friendly fire, but in reality, the boat went over it.

Speaker 1

On those sides of blood. Island, escort the dinner.

Speaker 3

And intercepts were received that the 205th brigade would be conducting "dinner" all night. That is what they called the transfer of their personnel there, the movement of their landing force.

Speaker 1

Slava, pass the petsepocheky, this is the conduct of Uzhyn. Mashnu, received.

Speaker 4

One machine gun had a thermal sight, one machine gun had a collimator-holographic sight in order to work with NVGs.

Speaker 5

Did not open fire, it's second company five. Detector company.

Speaker 2

At the same time, 400 meters from us, the enemy was already on the island, not suspecting that we would be near them and carrying out this ambush.

Speaker 6

They sneaked past me, then they spun around, I don't know what they were doing there. And back, fuck, then fuck, fuck, a bit from the shore, well, a bit further, well, practically to the middle, this black piece of junk started to sink. Sibir, Sibir, Yakoto.

Speaker 7

Who is coming out at the reception in Siberia? Why are we supposed to drop dead here? We're leaving tomorrow; if nothing, tell the command, we're leaving with seven. Copy, Siberia, copy.

Speaker 3

In the summer of '23, the enemy decided to unite the islands in the Dnieper delta opposite the settlements of Mykolaivka, Odrada, and Kamianka. What are these islands? It is a large archipelago that occupies an area of approximately three settlements. Personnel had been accumulated for the enemy in the settlements of Dnipryany and Nova Kakhovka. At that time, the 10th GRU brigade and the 25th regiment, also GRU, operated in the area of these islands. We, in fact, were expecting them. At the same time, we had information from intercepts that the 205th brigade would be conducting "dinner" all night. That is what they called the transfer and movement of their landing force. Roughly, they said that "dinner" would take place all night. "Bunny" would be going home; this is the boat that would return to the settlement. On the 15th, the enemy makes seven boat trips. At that time, the decision was made to wait until the enemy was in the most vulnerable position for them, specifically on the islands. And then to apply fire impact using 120mm and 82mm mortar crews. The enemy accumulated in a concentration area on one of the islands of this archipelago. In fact, we applied mortar fire such that the enemy suffered almost complete… The entire group, consisting of approximately a reinforced platoon of the reconnaissance company of the 205th brigade, lost its combat capability. We saw the result, assessed the damage. Assessed the damage by obtaining radio intercepts and information. And continued to apply fire impact until morning, so that the enemy could not carry out the evacuation they were attempting. And so that the brigade or the sector of responsibility could react in time. Because all the enemy's operational activity was thwarted by just two mortar crews. The next day, August 16, the enemy does not abandon their intention to recover the wounded. Accordingly, our reconnaissance group advances along the route that had been attached. Although a plan, an action plan synchronized with the intent of both the fire groups and the reconnaissance groups in conjunction with the 8th regiment, was drawn up in a fairly short time.

Speaker 4

They had already found this boat; everything was developed for ourselves, for a group as a kind of plan, and we needed to be given an order from the detachment. And then I say to Seven, I say, come with me to the detachment commander, we'll try to get him to let us go. We arrive there, at the AKP; nobody knows, Seven brought someone, somehow brought someone, as always, to the AKP. We go in, the detachment commander is sitting there, and it was very interesting. I was telling him, I say, here's the boat, it floats here, just a guarantee, we'll do it, everything, it'll be cool. He's sitting there, and this battalion commander is like, like, yes, well, S3 chief.

Speaker 2

plans,

Speaker 4

to me. One like this comes up, maybe we can launch BRK for the guys here. And the head of SAKS is like, well look, like, sir commander, we don't know, but something like that is being planned. Like, OKATS is planning something, but we know nothing. In general, they aren't letting us in, they're asking us not to go in there. And we all turn to him and say, friend, look, this thing they're planning is what we've just brought. And they don't know who he is, he's just a senior soldier. I then say, this is a captain at the SPU. And they're like, what's going on here? And the detachment commander, sitting there, says, he loves the phrase. Well, guys, if you don't try, you'll never know. And he basically gave the go-ahead, we started preparing, but then they tell us there is no BRK, no, no, no BRK. But we had already agreed on everything, well, about everything. And we're like, okay, fine, I'll call the detachment commander then. I say, we need to be at STOKH with Nikolai. Everything is just stalled, cars aren't moving, we need it for these few days. And he's like, yes, something is being transported there, anyway, just go ahead and do your thing.

Speaker 1

Ostrov, escort, uuzhyn. Did you come out for me? Good, received. Slava, pass five from the kidney, this is the escorting of the uuzhyn. Mashla, received.

Speaker 4

One machine gun had a thermal sight, and one machine gun had a holographic sight to be able to work with NVGs. So, the boat began to move. We opened fire. One machine gun jammed immediately—the one that was thermal, which could have hit the target better. At night, it was being deployed and there was a delay; it was just awful. The other one worked.

Speaker 5

He opened fire, and so, the 4th company is taking it, five. But this is the 2nd company.

Speaker 2

Correct, with those signs, 400 meters from us the enemy was already on the island, who did not suspect that we would be near him and carrying out this ambush. In their heads

Speaker 4

there was friendly fire, and

Speaker 2

In reality, the boat sank.

Speaker 6

They passed by me, then they spun around—I don't know what they were doing there—and back. Then, a little way from the shore, a little further, practically toward the middle, some black thing, and it started to sink.

Speaker 4

If something had happened to us there, there would have been many problems for everyone. But he kind of assessed it, like, as a scientist. We did all that, and he was like, well, that's it, guys, good. Then they brought the whole unit, like right to this area.

Speaker 3

The enemy group changed the landing point because they had suffered heavy losses at the previous one. And fire influence there, basically, using the senior commander's assets, had already been maintained all day. On August 22, an enemy boat landed personnel at the same spot where the previous ambush had been. A decision was made to hold the boat, not to let it return. Because, according to our information, the enemy had a shortage of watercraft. They could not afford to conduct a simultaneous landing of troops. The enemy tried, ordered their personnel, gave orders that they needed to return, needed to return by morning, needed to force events. But we did not allow them to do this through constant fire influence. After which we learned that they had wounded 300s, and continued fire influence in the area of concentration. At this time, our reconnaissance group in full strength, once again, together with the 8th Special Forces Regiment, deployed to the island.

Speaker 4

We were given a task by the DK to reach the line of the place where you set up an ambush. It was approximately in the area of a kilometer from Rostogostri Kazatskoyi. There are two swamps and one narrow passage there. And at this narrow passage, observation post 26 was located, which needed to be moved further to the place where we were setting up the ambush point. I remember, we approach the senior position. He was this big guy in suspenders. I saw that something was off about him. He was behaving very strangely. And then he came up and says, guys, my back was hurting a lot. I was shown three bases on Lbufina. I'm like, mm, okay, okay. And so we're sitting there, just such silence, and in the thicket, the leaves are moving. And it's just this constant crack. And at that moment he turns around and says, are you also listening to how crocodiles are eating these trees? And I'm like, ugh, okay, great. And he's standing there, just says, yes, we had contact here. We blew up a couple of these. Like, I blew up a Monka, here they are lying, these guys. And we're like, where? And he's like, let me show you. We walk past, and they are just, because it was impossible to dig, impossible to deepen properly, because it was all seeping. They were just covered with bark. And Sipan then says that they're just marinating them here. They were covered with bark. He showed us a short video where he's there, well, he's about 50, he's so big, such a big Ukrainian oak. And he's just sitting there. And just those boys there, realistically, well, there, well, well, the guys were 19, 20, maybe they were slain, all recon platoons.

Speaker 8

Did you have a rotation? No, two groups came to me. Two reinforced groups. Two groups have been here for five days already. And now we have two more groups today.

Speaker 3

Yeah. And both groups are there? On that island?

Speaker 8

No, also, somewhere, somewhere on this island,

Speaker 8

Yeah. Well, the groups are all gone, but… Still, still, right afloat. When did it approach? Yes. Well, that's clear. And was there a boat here? Ah, a boat here? Yes. And here, I don't know. Here, by it, address 5, and there are simply 15 more forks.

Speaker 2

At our position, we received information that there is still a reconnaissance group somewhere in the area trying to sneak into the rear. We spotted this infiltration group, and we had fire contact with them.

Speaker 4

Then I honestly remember our conversation with the chief of staff, I say, look, two machine guns are working, we have two machine guns, meaning our people are alive. When, like, cease fire, the command came over the radio, they reported, like, that the enemy had retreated, even those from the observation post gathered and went to reconstruct that place where the contact occurred. They advanced literally 60 meters, and then it turns out that they had been near our position for quite a long period of time, they had already managed to dig in there, and the guys were just sitting there, living their lives, right next to them, and nothing disturbed them. The enemy, whom we

Speaker 2

met at the observation post, had no body armor or helmets, he was normally equipped, there were optical sights on various AK models, banana magazines, everything as

Speaker 3

in the old style of development. Again, at night, having received a radio intercept on that same day, August 22, we noticed the enemy's attempt to carry out an evacuation of personnel who had suffered losses that night. The boat didn't even have time to reach the point before we hit the group it was supposed to evacuate. At 5 in the morning, which was already August 23, the boat made a second attempt; again, the enemy suffered losses, and all of this in one place. Then on the Z-publics, 13 Romans, many people wrote about it there.

Speaker 9

Soldiers from one of the reconnaissance companies of the 205th Brigade approached us to highlight the problem on the islands. The reconnaissance battalion receives a task to advance to the island to carry out objectives. The deep reconnaissance company went in; 200-300, guys. Next, the 1st reconnaissance company goes in; 200-300 plus in captivity. Our 2nd reconnaissance company went in; 200-300, there is no artillery support, we are losing the guys, a company in two days.

Speaker 10

The moment has really come to this. 205th Brigade. Yesterday I spent half the day on such an interesting activity. I watched the monitor, called on the phone, told people where to shoot. I provided coordinates, gave targets. Saving the guys. 6-200 in the 205th Brigade. Yesterday on the islands, the guys got caught. They have a meat grinder. Just so you understand, cigarettes and food were dropped to the people by quadcopter. Well, because they have nothing. And they drank water from the Dnipro. Well, nothing to drink. They are surrounded there, they are simply in the grip.

Speaker 3

Everyone complained that a mortar of the Defense Forces of Ukraine operates constantly and no one can silence it. Even later, they posted motivational, perhaps, some posts that they had eventually killed this crew.

Speaker 9

Members of the channels "Fromanoflight" and "Thirteenth" send a fiery artillery greeting to a mortar crew of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. To some, posthumously.

Speaker 3

Crew is alive, crew. Continued its work.

Speaker 9

Mine.

Speaker 8

Shot.

Speaker 7

Mine.

Speaker 8

Shot.

Speaker 7

Mine.

Speaker 8

Shot.

Speaker 4

We were on patrol for about 4 days. And it was clear that we wanted to fight the enemy somehow, to catch up with that enemy we had contact with. We somehow drifted apart, no one killed anyone, nothing very interesting. Right. It became clear that the enemy was somewhere here. There was a bunch of trash. I mean, there was Crimean water. This, as I remember now, chocolate. Alenka. Everyone gathered. Like, yeah, come on, what are we going to do if we have contact, what not. I say, well I just told you, look, the command isn't pushing us forward there. We can process something more here further. We don't know how many of the enemy there are, what the number is, we know nothing, only voices. Let's do this. Here we set up an element of fire cover. And three people will move towards the contact. Simply, if we have a chest-high or full-body silhouette, we open fire on the chest-high or full-body silhouette, withdraw to the fire cover element, and then act, like, based on the facts. And right away, then again, Shat was coming out with us, he was a beauty then, because he immediately passed the location, the point where we heard voices, to the mortars. I'm just walking, walking, walking. And at one moment I realize that there, 40-50 meters away, is a figure standing in an RPS, taking a bottle of water. And my first thought is, he's defenseless. Just defenseless, only in an RPS. He starts drinking water. And everyone saw him. They chose a slightly better sector. I rested the assault rifle on a support, on a proper branch. I fired a shot, as I remember now, because I thought I had fired two shots on adrenaline. I mean, I pulled the trigger like five times. I didn't even [really pull it]. But I just thought that I had calmly fired two shots. That's how the adrenaline was. And it's good that we didn't all go together then, because then there was the detonation of two mines. This is a standard protocol when a reconnaissance group stays for a day-watch. They surround themselves with Claymores, MON-50s, in order to secure themselves against the most dangerous direction. There was the detonation of two MON-50s. Chaotic fire began. And then it played a role that NSHAV called mortars to this position. The mortar began to work. We realize that we need to bypass that area or go further. And the operational duty officer. He was very worried about us. He constantly told us that all of Russia is looking for you. On that island, you're running around there just like wild animals. There are two groups, that's it. And we're like, that we had contact here two days ago. Here we've already reached somewhere. Someone is still looking for us here. Well, let's withdraw to the patrol and wait for further instructions.

Speaker 9

The situation on the island unfolded as follows: an unprepared young platoon commander, who joined us two weeks ago, is dying from gunshot wounds. Two are wounded from mortar shelling. Although all of this could have been avoided if everyone had performed their duties. 25.08.2023 Kherson region. 205th Brigade. Right now on the island, our boys are being shredded. With everything possible. The guys are providing targets. Video of targets, but no one is working. The guys identify targets, track them, send coordinates. But it doesn't go beyond the head of intelligence. The company commander and soldiers tried to move out to evacuate the guys. They were stopped. The company commander was forcibly sent to a psychiatric ward under the pretext that no one is there. The entire company stood up for the company commander, and now they are being threatened with criminal charges. Two more commanders who supported him were locked up. The guys were brought onto the island yesterday afternoon. Right under the observation of the enemy. The brigade commander, given the situation, is afraid to report upwards.

Speaker 3

The enemy's state was completely demoralized. The enemy said over the radio airwaves that after fire contact with reconnaissance groups, the enemy began to say that they are being pressed, they are being surrounded, and if nothing is changed, or there are no further actions, the enemy will leave this island over the next day, this scrap, which was assigned to the area of responsibility of specifically the eight and our reconnaissance group.

Speaker 7

We are leaving tomorrow, tell the management. We are leaving in the morning.

Speaker 3

But we have already seen and detected the enemy, who is building dams. Based on the state of the enemy's actions, we understood that they did not want to continue the war. They are already thinking only about how to simply leave this place, or cross over to a neighboring patch, which is no longer in our area of responsibility. However, having detected these intentions, we carried out a series of further fire strikes with an 82mm mortar. According to our data, the enemy has completely lost combat capability. Their deep reconnaissance company, which they have by table of organization, has completely lost combat capability and was returned for restoration. From what we confirmed via objective control, there were about a platoon's worth of 200s, but the enemy's data indicated a larger number. We will speak only using the data that we can confirm ourselves. If there were more of them, that also suits us.