“We stormed the islands”. How the operation near Kherson turned territorial defense fighter Lawyer into a “riverine”

“Petrukha”. This is how the fighters of the fire support company of the Kherson territorial defense secretly call their commander. For them, he is not just a senior officer, but also a friend who saved their lives with his leadership during complex operations in the Kherson area.

Instead, they call him by the call sign “Lawyer” to his face because of his civilian profession as a lawyer. When speaking, Petro chooses his words carefully. He calmly talks about the battles that turned him into a Special Forces officer.

“Riverines”. This is what the territorial defense fighters jokingly call themselves because of the specifics of the operation in which they had to participate.

Fighting on the islands in the Dnipro Delta near Kherson lasted for several months. Ukrainians entered the occupied territory in January 2023. In February, the Kherson territorial defense brigade took part in these battles. Its fighters stormed and advanced where the special forces could not.

The defense forces pushed the Russians back so far that they could no longer come within range of the mortars that had previously been used to shell Kherson, and much of the fire from tanks and artillery was directed at the territorial defense fighters.

This lasted until June. The destruction of the Kakhovka dam forced the Kherson territorial defense fighters to withdraw from the islands, which were flooded with water.

Back in February, Lawyer was one of the first to lead an assault team on the island. Six months later, he shared his experience of fighting on the islands and the specifics of this complex operation.

A lawyer becomes a volunteer

Petro is from Odesa. He studied law there at the Mechnikov Odesa National University. At the same time, he was studying at the reserve officer training department at the Institute of Land Forces. Back in the 2000s, he had no plans to become a military officer, although he enjoyed his three years of officer training. After graduation, Petro started practicing law.

When the Russians first invaded Ukraine in 2014, he did not feel that it was time to go to war. “At the time, it seemed like something distant and indirectly related to me,” explains the Odesa resident.

However, when the full-scale invasion began, he volunteered to join the local territorial defense.

“I realized that I could not stand aside and say that I was not a soldier, that I would not go. Either you fight for victory or… I don't understand,” Petro says.

After the Kherson territorial defense fighters left the occupation, the battalion began to recover in the Odesa region. It was there that a group of Odesa residents, including Petro, joined the battalion. Initially, the battalion performed missions in the east of the country, and after the liberation of Kherson, it returned to the city.

Kherson residents enter the island

In the winter, the Kherson territorial defense learned of a new task: to push the occupiers off the islands around Kherson. The infantrymen had to cross the river and land on one of the islands. In such conditions, it could have been psychologically difficult for the soldiers, because, in case of retreat, the water obstacle made it difficult. None of the soldiers had ever been involved in such operations before.

“I never had the feeling that we were on a one-way trip, and I never said that to the soldiers. I always said that everything would be fine, we would return, and we would complete the combat mission without losses,” Lawyer recalls how he set his fellows-in-arms up for an unusual operation.

During the first visit to the islands in February, there was a small storm. All the territorial defense fighters got wet, and when they landed on the shore, they almost immediately turned into “icicles”.

“We were wet for two days, many guys got sick, but we still performed a combat mission,” Petro recalls his first experience of the operation on the islands.

However, this was not the most difficult part. Very quickly, the territorial defense fighters realized that it was almost impossible to arrange shelters, and dig trenches, and dugouts on the islands.

“It is impossible to dig anything. You dig down 30-40 centimeters, maybe a meter, and that's it - water starts to break through,” thecommander explains.

Another feature of the islands was a very narrow passageway. In fact, these are conventional one or two streets where Kherson residents have set up their summer cottages. Only through this narrow corridor, the fighters could move toward the enemy, as most of the islands were covered with impassable reeds.

And these summer cottages are not capital buildings. Most of them are garden houses - brick or even wooden ones. That is, it is extremely difficult to take shelter on the islands from enemy fire. And it was constant.

“I didn't fight in Donbas, but some of my friends did. They said that the fighting on the islands was very similar in terms of the intensity of the shelling and the constant contact. For example, I had five meters of contact there,” Petro says.

The territorial defense is on the attack

The territorial defense fighters did not have to storm the island right away. The first landing of Lawyer's assault squad was only to observe the enemy. This helped to prepare for the next steps.

“After the first visit to the island, I already knew where to choose a safe place for the next landing, that the Russians were 500 meters away, and understood the specifics of the location,” Petro explains.

When Lawyer's squad began to move deeper into the island during the second landing, sappers played a significant role in this. The Russians laid tripwires and mines on the only road.

“I was very, very lucky to have two superb sappers from our brigade. I was ready to carry them in my arms. I joked back then: ‘If there is another operation, I will make you a pedestal. We'll put you on it, and I'll carry you, and you'll just point with your fingers at what to do’,” thecommander recalls with a smile.

And then the territorial defense fighters reached the enemy's positions and had to make contact.

“Every day we were moving forward, knocking the Russians out of their observation points with losses. For the first four days, we had no losses at all - no wounded, no shell-shocked, no one. We moved confidently, and let's just say it paid off,” Petro says.

One of the results is the trophies won. In almost every second house, the territorial fighters found Russian supplies: ammunition, grenades, hand grenade launchers, and charges for them.

“They probably realized that when the battle started, they would retreat. And in order not to take the ammunition with them, they made caches,” explains the fire support company commander.

In such “caches”, Ukrainians found bulletproof vests, helmets, shoulder belt systems, and backpacks belonging to Russians. However, the equipment was not Russian-made.

“It was European, Western. That is, the katsapy do not like their own staff, they prefer comfortable things. And they were properly charged. I understand that it was not ordinary conscripts - either marines or paratroopers working there,” Lawyerbelieves.

On the fourth day of the assault, the Russians opened artillery fire on the territorial defense fighters. The Kherson residents tried to hide in the houses, but it was only a conditional shelter.

“When a shell from a tank hits the small hut you're sitting in, it feels like you've been hit by a train. Your ears are plugged, something white in your eyes, and it's very difficult to orient yourself. A fighter was sitting opposite me, the shrapnel hit him in the face, and he started screaming. And this scream of his set me in motion, let's just say, my consciousness returned. We started evacuating the wounded,” thefire support company commander recalls.

Back then his group was lucky. The soldiers sustained shrapnel wounds and later, after recovery, returned to duty.

As a result of those first operations, the Kherson territorial defense fighters began to call themselves “riverine”. Their fire support company commander from Odesa has a slightly different definition for his assault unit: “We are a special unit of territorial defense”. He is sincerely proud of his men who proved themselves in those battles.

“We were moving very fast. It happened that we were following on their heels. We were walking, and we saw a MON (mine – ed.), but it was not laid, because they simply did not have time to lay them. I think they sh*t their pants a little bit when we were moving. It's nice that the guys worked as a single unit, everyone knew what to do,” Petro recalls the first battles.

Changes in the situation on the islands

Throughout the spring, Lawyer's group visited the islands several times. During this time, “the landscape there changed”.

First, trees and bushes were covered with greenery. In such conditions, it became even more difficult for sappers to detect enemy mines.

Secondly, there are almost no surviving buildings left from the constant shelling. While at the beginning of the operation, the territorial defense fighters could still hide in brick buildings, by the end of spring, they were happy to use wooden ones.

“It is much harder, of course. Not only physically, but also psychologically. The soldier realizes that any attack – whether a tank, mortar, or anything else – and a cardboard house will simply be destroyed by a direct hit,” thecommander recalls.

Moreover, Russians have been attacking with drones much more often than before.

“In April and May, the intensity of drone attacks increased many times over. There was a case when they were attacking all day long. They flew one after the other, in a cascading manner: border after border,” recalls Lawyer.

Ammunition was indiscriminately dropped on buildings to check whether Kherson defenders were hiding in shelters.

“The nervous system can fail, and a fighter can run out of the house. But, thank God, we didn't have any such cases, no one ran anywhere, because it would have led to much worse consequences. Shrapnel in the open area will cut you,” explains Petro.

The understanding that fighting on the islands is a very specific task for territorial defense added to the fighters' motivation.

“There were times when the special forces came, and we were moving forward, while they were behind us. This is also very motivating. The guys realize that if we are moving forward, it is for a reason, so we are cooler than those special forces. If we are not marines, then we are riverine!” the fire support company commander is proud of the task.

Exit from the islands

The Russians failed to defeat the Kherson territorial defense fighters in the battles on the islands. This confrontation ended with their war crime – the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station dam.

At that time, units of Kherson territorial defense fighters were also on the islands. Everyone was evacuated under enemy fire, but there were no casualties. The same cannot be said about the enemy.

“From a military point of view, the Russians suffered much more, and from a civilian point of view, of course, Ukraine suffered. The Russians actually lost their entire front line. They had an extensive system of observation points and strongholds, everything was on alert, and they zeroed in. All this was f*cking washed away. In addition, in their chaos and panic, a lot of katsaps drowned. They also began to huddle together, and our artillery worked effectively on them,” Lawyer recalls the last hours of the fighting.

Summarizing all the battles for the islands, the commander called his men “attaboys”. He is proud that the state has honored many of his men. He lists the Gold and Silver Crosses and the Order for Courage that the territorial defense fighters received for their missions.

“Honestly, I am proud of them! This shows that my unit is a fighting unit. But the most important thing for me is that all the guys are back. Yes, they were wounded, and shell-shocked, but they are alive and will be able to join the ranks. I visit them in the hospital, and they are eager to fight,” says the commander.

After being wounded in the spring, Petro himself returned from the hospital. The war did not end on the islands for Lawyer – he is ready to fight on.

“I will fight and destroy them as long as I can. Rage overwhelms you, especially when you see your wounded brothers-in-arms. And there is only one desire at this time: to destroy as many of them as possible,” thefighter summarizes.