How Ukraine’s Special Forces and the International Legion walked on a river bottom to liberate a Kherson Oblast village

Ukrainian Special Operations Forces and the International Legion, consisting of foreign volunteers who joined the Ukrainian Army, conducted a Pirates-of-the-Caribbean type of operation to liberate a village in southern Ukraine from Russian occupation. Details of the operation were revealed by the Press Office of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces, which shared a first-hand account of the Ukrainian Special Forces diver. He walked on the bottom of a river to reach a village occupied by Russians during Ukraine's recent offensive in Kherson Oblast. Russian forces captured the houses of local residents in one of the villages of Kherson Oblast to build a fortified stronghold. A combined detachment of the Ukrainian 73rd Marine Special Operations Center and International Legion was ordered to destroy Russian observation posts and advance deeper behind the enemy lines. The 73rd Marine Center troops used boats to reach the village, while the Special Forces unit of divers paved their way on the bottom of the river. This is how one of the Ukrainian divers describes their special operation:

“All the assault groups moved forward in rubber inflatable boats, but we also had the main watch of three fighters who used flippers. I was in the main watch together with two other guys from the International Legion.   We had to reach the place first and secure a route clearance for our assault group. By the time the boats arrived, we crossed the river and almost reached the coastline.   We rushed to the first house and began the sweep operation moving from building to building. When we approached the fourth house, we heard the sound of a machine gun fire. We realized straight away that it was the time for us to engage the enemy.”

Russian forces keep losing ground in southern Ukraine. On November 12, the Ukrainian Army deoccupied Kherson, the only regional capital of Ukraine that Russia has managed to capture over the past 8 months of the full-scale invasion. The deoccupation of Kherson was the finishing touch of the Ukrainian operation to push Russian forces out of their bridgehead on the western bank of the Dnipro river in Kherson and Mykolayiv Oblast of southern Ukraine. Photo by Special Operations Forces Related: Russian Forces in Kherson Oblast's East Likely Partially Vulnerable to Ukrainian Interdiction Campaign - ISW