Matsik bends down, removes some dry branches that are on the floor of the apartment and lifts the lid of a rectangular buried box. It is there that the Stinger is hidden, the portable air defense system with which they periodically bring down Russian planes and drones. “This is hurting them a lot,” he says as he holds up the American-made weapon, which weighs nearly 17 kilograms. “The enemies no longer dare to enter this area like at the beginning of the war, when they felt that the sky belonged to them”, adds Matsik.
He insists on several occasions that the pilots no longer want to approach him. Show me how it works. Move a lever and grates that operate like antennas are raised. “They are used to detect objects that move at a distance. They recognize the enemy air targets, identify who belongs to them, whether to our forces or not”, he points out.
The position he commands is located on top of a hill very, very thickly vegetated and covered with the bright spring grass. When it’s sunny, he and his men camouflage themselves behind a couple of trees to observe the horizon with binoculars they don’t take off. But when it rains they do it from a small trench covered with black plastic.
The month of April that just ended was the rainiest in years. The countryside is splendid, but the roads are a mud that makes the mobility of the troops extremely difficult. Matsik’s position is one of 13 air defense units of the 68th brigade located along the line between Marinka and Vuhledar, one of the most attacked sectors of the Donetsk region and one of the most strategic areas for the two forces
This is particularly evident in Vuhledar, where the Ukrainians have time and again halted the advances of Moscow’s forces. The defense of this locality has possibly been the most successful mission of Kyiv forces since the counteroffensive to retake the city of Kherson at the end of November. “These weapons – the Stingers – have helped a lot,” explains Orest, another of the brigade’s anti-aircraft defense commanders.
“They have allowed us to prevent them from breaking our positions. They couldn’t do anything about it”, adds this musician – also known as a father – converted into a Stinger operator. Mastik intervenes to explain that the work they do is especially important for the infantry defending these areas. “We cover them, we protect them from the sky, and at the same time they cover us and do not let the Russians advance”, he points out. They recognize, however, that the situation continues to be delicate, especially in Marinka, where the fighting is increasingly intense.
Both explain that the effectiveness of these portable air defense systems is extremely high, close to 80%. Nothing comparable to similar Russian made weapons that have a 30% success rate.
The mission of each of these positions is to stop any object that flies below 600 meters. This includes Russian drones, missiles, helicopters and fighters that usually fly very low, between 50 and 150 meters, to avoid detection by the most sophisticated anti-aircraft systems, which only pick up movements above 500 meters. The last one they shot down, Orest explains with pride, was a MiG, on April 14. “Many times we hear them coming. For example, with missiles. We hear them when they come in our direction. Just like kamikaze drones that attack other positions. If we have the possibility, we shoot them down”, explains Orest, who acknowledges that they have no rest.
They work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, especially these past few weeks, when the Russians have stepped up their attacks. “They are desperately looking for the places where our men are located and where we have weapons stored,” intervenes Mastik. My interlocutors relate this increase in the activity of the Russian army to the counter-offensive that the Ukrainians are planning in the coming weeks. “They are afraid, they are worried, but let them feel that way. Let them suffer”, he says.
The night before our visit to these positions, on Monday, Russia launched 18 cruise missiles over Ukraine and 15 were intercepted, according to the commander-in-chief of Ukrainian forces Valery Zalujni. Here three of those missiles flew over this position. Two fell in a nearby population, without further consequences. The third took another direction.
They could not reach them. It’s not always easy, especially when the weather is bad and it’s raining. The Stingers do not operate well in these circumstances, they explain, but they are saved by the fact that Russian planes and helicopters do not dare to fly either. Another thing is missiles or kamikaze drones.
Ten days ago they dropped one. Mastik shows the photo of the wreckage of the downed aircraft that he keeps on his mobile phone. “We didn’t shoot him down with the Stinger, it was with a normal weapon”, intervenes Orest. He admits it almost with shame, but assures that when the drones approach you must shoot them with whatever is necessary. This includes anti-drone weapons and machine guns installed in pickup trucks that are intended for special operations.
“Our task is defensive, but we will be fundamental when there is an offensive”, confesses Mastik. “We will protect the infantry,” he says. This face-off between Vuhledar and Marinka is called to be one of the points where the pieces of the Ukrainian offensive will move over the coming months. However, for now, these men say, they have not seen any extraordinary movement in these positions.
