Getting to Ukraine’s deadly “zero line” to fight is so difficult and dangerous that every step requires careful planning and coordination. It often feels like “Mission Impossible,” a Ukrainian sergeant told Business Insider.
When moving toward the zero line, the forwardmost part of the front line where Ukrainian troops are closest to Russian forces, “every single step has to be coordinated. Every like 200 meters, every step, because otherwise it puts you in danger,” the Ukrainian sergeant, call sign Yankee, shared.
That coordination is necessary to prevent unintentional friendly-fire deaths and ensure that maneuvering soldiers have protection as they make their way forward.
Just getting to that zero line “is like ‘Mission Impossible,'” the sergeant said, referring to action movies famous for their intensity and the incredibly difficult nature of the missions.
The zero line is an extremely perilous place for soldiers. The sky is filled with both surveillance and attack drones, and hostile troops are close by, often launching infiltration missions.
Moving even 300 meters can be a matter of life and death, Yankee said, requiring troops to wait for favorable weather and electronic warfare support, conditions that may not come for a week.
Yankee serves as a battery sergeant in a front-line unit that uses man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS, which are shoulder-fired missiles that can stop drones, missiles, and low-flying aircraft.
His unit gives air defense to the infantry soldiers who need to be at the zero line, and, as a result, “we participate in battle,” he said.
Yankee spoke to Business Insider in Poland while taking part in Operation Legio, a Norway-led multinational program to train and equip Ukrainian soldiers.
Getting to the zero line requires navigating through areas far more dangerous and intense than anything Western militaries have experienced in decades. Ukrainian officials describe a “kill zone” that stretches up to 50 kilometers in some places on both sides of the zero line.
There are so many drones in the “kill zone” that any movement risks being detected and killed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously described it as a “death zone” where “everything is destroyed by drones.”
Oleksiy Vyskub, Ukraine’s first deputy defense minister, told Business Insider in June that infantry soldiers can lose days moving through the kill zone to get to their front-line positions. He said the kill zone could double in size this year, and that soldiers may, at some point, find themselves unable to reach these positions at all because of how dangerous it is.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a grinding, brutal, and largely static war characterized by heavy artillery fire and swarms of drones gathering intelligence, spotting targets, and attacking. Any movement can expose soldiers to detection and attack, requiring protective fire or defensive cover and close coordination to ensure friendly forces do not mistake them for the enemy.
That requirement, though, isn’t exclusive to the front-line “kill zone.” Ukrainian drone operators previously told Business Insider that they have to regularly coordinate with nearby units to make sure that their own drones aren’t accidentally downed by friendly electronic warfare or air-defense units. They must also negotiate safe passage for their drones as well.
The fighting is so chaotic, though, that soldiers still accidentally shoot down and jam friendly drones. Manufacturers say the losses are just a part of war.
Ukrainian soldiers describe battlefield coordination as essential, not just within their own unit but with every other unit nearby. Ukraine’s military is working to make that coordination easier, including through its new Delta online battlefield management system. The common command-and-coordination platform provides an overall picture of the battlefield, shows what nearby units are doing, and helps prevent confusion among them.
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