A Ukrainian soldier has been hailed as a hero for blowing himself up to destroy a bridge in an effort to stop Russian tanks from invading his country. Marine battalion engineer Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych was deployed to the Henichesk bridge in the southern province of Kherson when the Russian tanks advanced, the Ukrainian military said on its Facebook page.
According to an Armed Forces official, the heroic engineer volunteered for the dangerous duty of mine-rigging the bridge.
It’s a crucial military pinch point connecting Russia’s captured Crimea to Ukraine’s heartland.
Vitaliy realised he didn’t have time to ignite a fuse and flee as Putin’s forces closed in on him.
“The bridge was mined, but he didn’t manage to get away from there,” said the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
“According to his brothers in arms, Vitaly got in touch [with them] and said he was going to blow up the bridge
“Immediately after an explosion rang out.”
Skakun, a military engineer, was hailed by his comrades for “significantly slowing down the advance of the enemy”.
One military official said: “Russian occupiers, know that the ground will burn under your feet!”
Commanders are now looking to award Vitaliy with posthumous honours for his “heroic act”.
Russian tanks and missile launchers had to take a longer land route into the region of Kherson in the south. They had taken control of much of the territory by last night. However, heavy fighting erupted today in Mariupol’s harbour and surrounding Melitopol’s airbase.
On the first day when Putin’s invasion army swept in from the north, east, and south, more than 130 Ukrainian soldiers were killed across the country.
On the first day, Kyiv claimed to have killed or captured 800 Russian troops, damaged 30 tanks and shot down seven jets.
It was announced today that Russia has lost 2,800 people, 17 planes and helicopters, 80 tanks, and over 500 other vehicles.
Defence forces have put up a “staunch resistance”, UK military analysts said.
Defence forces have put up a “staunch resistance,” according to military analysts in the United Kingdom.
The eastern Kharkov region, which experienced the second day of severe fighting today, was believed to be bogged down by Russian battalions.
Photographs revealed destroyed Russian cars littering the roadside, as well as dead and captured Russian soldiers. Two more columns were on their way to Kyiv from Belarus when they came to a halt around 30 miles away.
As defenders dug in for a siege, saboteurs dressed as Ukrainians were shot dead in street skirmishes in Kyiv.
Russia also claimed that it had recaptured a vital airfield with 200 helicopters in an air assault, clearing the way for a large military landing just four miles from the city.
It comes as:
- Defiant Ukrainian soldiers are using UK missiles to fight off Putin’s invasion
- Kyiv’s troops managed to recapture a key airport after a botched helicopter assault by the Russians
- Russia captured Chernobyl power plant – sparking fears of a new nuclear disaster
- At least 1,700 people were arrested in Russia for protesting against the war in Ukraine
- One million people were on the move in a mass exodus from to Hungary and other neighbours to the West
- Western sanctions targeted Russian money as Boris Johnson branded Putin as a “bloodstained aggressor“
- Tom Tugendhat MP, chair of the foreign affairs committee, wrote in The Sun that Putin and his “band of thieves” must be punished
Following much tougher resistance than expected, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace claimed the Kremlin “hasn’t taken any of its major objectives.”
Ukraine has given Putin a “bloody nose,” according to the former army captain, demonstrating that his army is “not at all invincible.”
He also insulted the country’s Spetsnaz special troops, claiming they failed to seize a key airport west of Kyiv’s city.
According to Mr Wallace, the Russian army’s morale is low, and large numbers of troops surrendered or deserted within hours of the attack launch.
According to reports, Kremlin men on the frontlines were unaware that they were fighting Ukrainians and were unwilling to participate.
He said: “If you looked at the massive odds that Russian posed before they started this you would’ve thought they’d have done it all in 24 hours.
“No one would have thought they would have failed to take a single one of their objectives which is where we’re at now.
“That’s contrary to great Russian claims and President Putin’s vision that somehow the Ukrainians would be liberated and flocking to his cause.
“He got that completely wrong. The Ukrainians are fighting and they are fighting bravely. President Putin is not getting it the way he wishes.”
The Defence Secretary also accused the Russians of indiscriminately shelling residential areas overnight as part of an escalation of violence. He predicted even fiercer Ukrainian defence in urban battles, with troops thinking “let them come into the cities and then whack them”.
Ukrainians have been warned they now face their “hardest day” with an expected all-out offensive by the Russians from the air, land and sea.
US intelligence now fears Putin could topple Kyiv in just 96 hours.
Source: thesun.co.uk
