After the Russians blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam on 6 June 2023, a large number of Russian mines on the Dnipro were swept away by water or sand, allowing the Ukrainian Defence Forces to seize a bridgehead on the left bank of the Kherson Region.
Special Forces officer with call sign Shaman, commander of a special unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, and Beaver, commander of the consolidated tactical group of the 8th Regiment (the Prince Izyaslav Mstyslavych Separate Special Operations Centre West), told LB.ua the details of the unique operation.
"It was a joint operation of various components of the Defence and Security Forces with the participation of a large number of special forces. Although it was not the first time it worked, I can honestly say that the overall operation was really quite cool," said Shaman, "We entered the enemy's territory in the interposition space, and there were several rather intense clashes with enemy observation posts. Some of them were almost completely destroyed or captured".
"During the first day of the operation, the enemy lost seventy-three servicemen in clashes because their airborne military unit, which had gone to Zaporizhzhya, left mobilised servicemen behind," said Beaver, commander of the combined tactical group of the 8th Regiment of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, "and at the junction of their battalions' positions, where we started working, they were completely disoriented. Their radios were running out of power, they ran out of water, and drew it from the Konka River. So when the fighting started, they could not understand where our troops were coming from."
Video version of the story of Shaman, the commander of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine's special unit: