Video of Trench Fight Shows Ukrainian Troops in Close-Quarters Combat
Ukrainian forces have been battling entrenched Russian troops in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Russia's extensive fortifications force Ukrainians to fight through minefields and into trenches.
A recent video shows Ukrainian troops using close-quarters-battle skills inside a Russian trench.
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Ukraine launched its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces in the eastern and southern parts of the country in early June. While Ukrainian troops are making progress, they are not moving as quickly as Kyiv and its Western partners had hoped.
The extensive minefields and in-depth fortifications that Russia built in occupied territory in late 2022 and early 2023 have slowed Ukraine's advance, negating some of the advantages of Ukraine's Western-armed mechanized brigades and forcing Ukrainian infantry and special operators out of their vehicles to clear mines and storm trenches.
The proximity of the fighting and Russia's complex defenses has put Ukrainian troops' close-quarters combat skills to a brutal test.
Ukrainian frogmen clearing Russian trenches
A Ukrainian soldier in a Russian trench in a image from a video widely shared on social media in June. Special Operations Forces of Ukraine/Screengrab via Twitter
In June, a graphic video showing Ukrainian special operators assaulting a Russian trench line circulated widely on the internet.
The footage showed Ukrainian commandos from the 73rd Naval Center of Special Operations, a secretive Navy SEAL-like unit, attacking entrenched Russian troops somewhere in southern Ukraine. The frogmen entered the trench from the rear and began clearing it, with one Ukrainian killing four Russian soldiers in a matter of minutes.
"I can tell they are highly trained, good weapons handling, use of grenades. Intense. High adrenaline but not chaotic," John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at West Point's Modern War Institute, said of the Ukrainian troops in the video.
Ukrainian special operators and regular troops have had to storm Russian trenches countless times, relying on luck and skill to survive. The fact that elite troops are being sent in to do the grunt work of clearing trenches suggests Ukrainian military commanders are under pressure to advance and retake territory.
A trench at a Ukrainian National Guard position near Odesa on April 10, 2023. BO AMSTRUP/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
Normally, such highly trained troops would be focused on tough missions, often behind enemy lines, that demand specialized skills. The 73rd Naval Center, for example, has been involved in maritime raids on Russian-occupied territory around the Dnipro River delta near Kherson.
Ukrainian special operators have been training in modern close-quarters combat since at least 2014 when the US and other NATO militaries began helping Kyiv modernize its armed forces. Green Berets from the US Army's 10th Special Forces Group were in Ukraine training their counterparts in a plethora of skills — including unconventional warfare, small-unit tactics, and close-quarters combat — until shortly before Russia attacked in February last year.
These skills, but especially close-quarters combat, have come in handy for Ukrainian troops in most of the war's major battles, including in Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Marinka, and Severodonetsk, where there has been heavy house-to-house fighting.
"Step by step, meter by meter," a Ukrainian soldier in Marinka told The New York Times in June, "the Russians destroy the buildings in front of us. They start from the top floor and level everything. It doesn't matter if we're using them or not."
Close-quarters combat
Ukrainian soldiers conduct a trench-clearing exercise at a training center in Ukraine in November 2016. US Army/Sgt. Jacob Holmes
Close-quarters combat, also known as close-quarters battle, is one of the hardest skill sets to master. US special operators spend years of training to become experts in it, and only top-tier units, such as the Army's Delta Force and the Navy's SEAL Team 6, reach the highest level of proficiency.
Besides world-class marksmanship under extreme pressure, close-quarters combat requires teamwork and situational awareness. A unit that "flows" through a target in smooth, finely tuned movements and with violence of action will always be effective.
Despite the name, close-quarters combat isn't always in close quarters.
Ukrainian troops train to clear a trench with guidance from US soldiers at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center in Ukraine in June 2017. US Army/Sgt. Anthony Jones
"One second, you could be clearing a 4-by-4-meter office room, and seconds later, you can find yourself in a 50-meter long hallway, a long street, or in need to shoot from a window to the outside of a building," Eli Fieldboy, a former Israeli special operator who now teaches close-quarters combat at Project Gecko, told Insider in 2020.
This fluid nature of close-quarters combat is evident in Ukraine, especially in and around urban centers. Ukrainian troops often have to go from clearing a trench to street-to-street fighting in just a matter of minutes, which requires mental fortitude as well as skill.
As the Ukrainian forces continue to push forward with the counteroffensive, close-quarters combat will be more frequent. In this intense fighting, only those with the better training and the most luck will be left standing.
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. He is working toward a master's degree in strategy and cybersecurity at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies.
Source: Business Insider
