BALTIC COURAGE UNDER FIRE ⟩ Estonian and Latvian Volunteer Soldiers Who Fought in the 2022 Liberation of Kharkiv Two Years Ago Continue to Serve in Ukrainian Ranks

“We approached on foot from one side, the HUR guys came from another, and more of our forces from a third direction,” Ulvis recounted. “Our group’s objective was to draw the enemy’s fire. We had quite the 'fun' time out there.”

According to drone reconnaissance, Lyman was defended by 70–80 Russian soldiers, while the Ukrainian assault teams numbered just 20–25. Yet the Ukrainians swiftly overran them.

The Russian unit in Lyman was poorly trained, made up mostly of conscripts from the so-called DNR (Donetsk People's Republic). “These men had been pulled off the streets, given Kalashnikovs, and told to fight,” Ulvis said. “They had poor motivation to fight.”

The unit of T-Bone and Ulvis were given nine hours to capture Lyman, with the plan being to take the village by 4 p.m. It wasn’t a small village—before the war, it had nearly 4,000 residents.

"We were already at the other end of the village by eight in the morning, having breakfast. We took it very quickly," T-Bone said, visibly amused as he recalled the successful assault. "We threw on cowboy hats and charged with a hurrah."

However, behind Lyman stood a stronger Russian unit with infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery. They were ordered to launch an immediate counterattack to retake Lyman.

Fortunately, a Ukrainian tank battalion followed the assault groups that had captured Lyman, tasked with securing any breakthroughs for rapid advances. A tank battalion typically consists of up to 30 tanks.

When the Russian units saw such a large number of tanks, retreat was no longer an option; it became a rout. "Seeing a tank often causes panic, especially for an inexperienced unit," Ulvis noted.

Amid the chaos, T-Bone’s and Ulvis’s group, along with other units, reached the outskirts of Balakliia by evening. This amounted to a total advance of 26 kilometers in a single day—a speed that no one would have believed possible at the start of the day.

"We didn’t enter the town itself. We took positions two kilometers outside it. There were many different groups, some went into the town," T-Bone explained.

The city of Balakliia, which had a population of 25,000 before the war, was also captured by Ukrainian forces essentially on the move. T-Bone and Ulvis did not take part in this, as their units were sent back to Kharkiv for a brief rest. Meanwhile, other Ukrainian assault units pressed on with full force.

The main role in the liberation of Balakliia was played by the Kraken special unit, which is subordinate to Ukrainian military intelligence.

“Our intelligence was superb. I had a clear understanding of where their command post was, where the logistics were, and where the power connections were,” said Danil (29), a Kraken officer and one of the leaders of the Balakliia operation. “The artillery strikes were extremely precise, and they lost their command lines. Pretty soon, we realized they had no idea what was happening.”

The attackers benefited from the fact that the Russian army’s command structure is highly hierarchical. “When we destroyed the leadership from the top, total chaos ensued because the units no longer understood what they were supposed to do,” Danil explained.

According to the Kraken officer, drone footage showed panicked Russian officers and soldiers hurriedly loading stolen goods, especially fur coats, onto trucks in Balakliia and fleeing across the fields. "Where they had been staying, the tables were still set and the teapots were warm when we entered," he added.

When T-Bone returned to the front with his group two days later, he had to travel 60 kilometers beyond Balakliia, toward the city of Kupiansk. Along with soldiers from the 92nd Assault Brigade, he was among the first to enter Kupiansk.

What stands out most in his memory is the attack on the second-to-last Russian checkpoint before Kupiansk, located on the Kharkiv highway, five kilometers from the city limits. The checkpoint was held by over 20 Russian soldiers.

"We overran it with a single Tigr," T-Bone said, referring to the armored vehicle his group had captured from the Russian army as a trophy. "The Russians probably thought we were crazy, flying full speed into their checkpoint with just one Tigr. Our infantry followed up from behind, providing cover fire. It was madness, the way we took that post."

There were a few more minor skirmishes with Russian units, and then, as T-Bone put it, "we walked right into Kupiansk."

In fact, the Russians had another checkpoint near the city limits, by a gas station. Ukrainian forces attacked it with jeeps. T-Bone was in the first jeep that sped into the city. The Russian soldiers at the checkpoint didn’t even realize what had happened as they were swiftly overrun.

The liberation of Kupiansk, a city of 26,000 people before the war, proceeded at the same rapid pace as in Balakliia: within a few days, Russian forces were driven out of this crucial railroad and highway junction.

Initially, Russian units resisted in Kupiansk, believing they could prevent Ukrainian forces from crossing the broad Oskil River, which divides the city. According to intelligence, Russian forces had, for some reason, moved their tanks away from Kupiansk, leaving only infantry to defend the city on the far side of the river.

The Ukrainian plan was simple. First, special forces, including the Kraken unit, crossed the river to sow panic. “They just didn’t believe we would cross the river so quickly. They weren’t really prepared to defend the city once we were over,” explained Kraken officer Danil. “After that, it was easier to set up pontoon bridges [across the river] and bring in equipment.”

Exact intelligence played a key role once again. “We knew everything they were doing,” Danil said. “We intercepted all their communications. Their encryption was pretty weak, and we quickly figured out their patterns.”

For Oleksandr (41), an armored vehicle commander with the 92nd Assault Brigade who participated in the liberation of Balakliia and Kupiansk, the first week of the offensive—when the greatest success was achieved—felt like one long day. “The first three days, we hardly slept because we were constantly advancing,” he recalled. “The following days weren’t much better: you could only nap for an hour or two inside the vehicle.”

Danil, the Kraken officer, said he slept an average of just one hour during the first five days of the offensive. After the liberation of Kupiansk, his unit rested for a single day before moving on.

Despite the lack of sleep, Oleksandr said none of them felt particularly exhausted. “There was just this energy in the air. Everyone was fired up, just wanting to keep pushing those bastards out,” he said. “We were always right on the heels of the retreating orcs. We only stopped to clear villages.” By “clearing,” he meant searching for hiding enemy soldiers, who were either captured or killed if they resisted.

With the same momentum as toward Kupiansk, Ukrainian units advanced southward from Balakliia toward Izium. In just four days, they covered 60 kilometers in that direction as well.

“We moved so quickly that the artillery couldn’t keep up with us,” said Maksym (28), a scout with the 25th Airborne Brigade who led the Ukrainian vanguard toward Izium. “The enemy had no idea where we were anymore. Their artillery couldn’t hit us because we were moving too fast.”

On the 60-kilometer stretch from Balakliia to Izium, Russian units attempted organized resistance against Ukrainian paratroopers only twice. Both times, tank columns were sent down the highway to stop the breakthrough. Most of the tanks were destroyed by artillery fire, and the remaining ones turned back.

“We fired on the tanks while I flew a drone, and the artillery commander sat right next to me, adjusting the fire in real-time,” Maksym explained.

Ukrainian forces liberated Izium with virtually no fighting. “All that was left for us to do was clear the city,” said Vladyslav (27), an infantryman with the 25th Brigade. “Clearing” meant capturing or neutralizing the remaining Russian soldiers in Izium, depending on whether they resisted.

The momentum of the Ukrainian offensive that liberated Kharkiv Oblast finally ran out by the end of October. T-Bone and Ulvis, along with their unit, stopped about 30 kilometers southeast of Kupiansk, near the Novoselivske area. From there, the war transitioned back into the familiar positional warfare that had become so typical in Ukraine. “There were some very intense battles, and we couldn’t advance any further,” T-Bone said. “The fields had become so soft that it was impossible to move with heavy equipment.”

“By then, the mud and darkness were so bad that you couldn’t see a damn thing. All you saw was everything burning and exploding around you as infantry attacked the positions. It was complete chaos,” Ulvis recalled, laughing as he added, “That’s our kind of romance!”

The 25th Airborne Brigade, advancing from Izium, managed to push within five kilometers of Kreminna, near the Luhansk-Donetsk oblast border, covering over 120 kilometers in a month and a half.

“We were completely exhausted. Then came the mud, and we got stuck with our equipment,” said Oleksandr (46), a tank operator with the 25th Brigade. “By that time, the orcs had received reinforcements. Every forest patch had 50 men waiting for us.”

T-Bone’s unit found themselves 20 kilometers from Svatove, the next crucial road junction. Ulvis still regrets that they didn’t reach the key city. “If we had just had three more battalions, we could have made it to Svatove,” he believes.

T-Bone is certain that the Ukrainian army's leadership never expected such a successful counteroffensive. From the village of Lyman, where it all began, they ultimately advanced 100–120 kilometers and liberated nearly the entire occupied Kharkiv Oblast.

“To my knowledge, it wasn’t planned for us to liberate such a large area,” T-Bone said. “The plan was for a much more modest operation. No one expected us to liberate nearly the entire oblast. The idea was to push forward a bit, secure our positions, and establish a new front line. We moved too quickly. There’s a big difference between capturing territory and holding it.”

Danil, an officer from the Kraken special unit, shared a similar view. “In my opinion, the higher command didn’t believe in such success,” he confirmed. “Especially not that we could cross the Oskil River and take Kupiansk.”

According to Danil, the operation initially had two goals. The minimum objective was to capture the large ammunition depots on the outskirts of Balakliia and block Russian forces in the city. The maximum objective was to enter the city and liberate it.

“They chose the least defended spot on the front,” Danil explained. “Right at the beginning of the attack, it was clear that if we could break through there, the [Russian defense] would collapse. And that’s exactly what happened—the front crumbled. We just had to keep following them to prevent them from regrouping anywhere.”

What contributed to the Ukrainians' success two years ago—besides good planning and the soldiers' courage? “We managed to create chaos and panic,” Ulvis said. “That was key. Once they started fleeing their positions, everything fell apart.”

“Good intelligence,” added T-Bone. “We knew quite well where they were and how many of them there were. Plus, a lot of the men in the 92nd Brigade were from the region, so they knew the local terrain. In fact, we had one guy who hadn’t been to his hometown in 20 years, and now he got to go back.”

T-Bone also highlighted that despite the offensive lasting a month and a half, Ukrainian army losses were relatively low, a testament to the good planning. Of course, there were losses, particularly in minefields, as Russian forces had managed to quickly lay mines in many areas.

T-Bone still vividly remembers crossing one such minefield. “Once, we had no choice but to drive a BTR (armored infantry transport vehicle) over a mine-filled field, just hoping for the best,” the Estonian soldier recalled. “Two vehicles had already blown up on that field. We drove through while mines and Grads exploded around us. A Niva driving next to us hit a mine and blew up. Three Ukrainians were inside—two died instantly, and the third was severely injured.”

Oleksandr, an armored vehicle commander from the 92nd Brigade, said his battalion lost only two BTRs during the entire offensive. One hit a mine, and the other was moving so fast that it crashed into a large bomb crater and had to be written off.

Ukrainian forces captured significantly more military equipment as trophies than they lost during the offensive. Various units of the Kraken special forces, which fought on multiple fronts, counted 21 Russian tanks as part of their spoils by the end of the offensive. They were able to put these tanks to use themselves, though some were dismantled to provide spare parts for others. Before this, Kraken had no tanks of their own, but they essentially gained two tank companies from the captured equipment.

According to Maksym, a scout from the 25th Airborne Brigade, the key elements of the successful offensive were secrecy and surprise. “We gathered secretly in the surrounding forests. Our numbers were a huge shock to them,” Maksym explained.

“We were only given two days' notice that we were going on the offensive and told to take only the essentials,” added Oleksandr, an armored vehicle commander with the 92nd Brigade.

Special forces, of course, began preparing earlier. T-Bone said that his unit started preparing for the offensive a week in advance. According to a Kraken officer, their preparations began even earlier.

An important factor in the success of the offensive two years ago was the widespread belief that the Ukrainian army would launch a full-scale attack on Kherson. “They didn’t expect us to start an operation so close to the Russian border, where all their logistics were concentrated,” said Maksym, the scout.

Kraken officer Danil also emphasized that the "information campaign" suggesting a southern offensive, specifically toward Kherson, worked in their favor. “They clearly didn’t expect us to strike from [Kharkiv Oblast],” the officer noted.

The Russians’ lack of preparedness in Kharkiv Oblast was evident, as Ukrainian intelligence discovered there were no second or third defensive lines beyond Balakliia. “That made our advance much easier,” Maksym said.

Two years ago, drones were still used relatively sparingly in the war, unlike today. “Back then, it was still possible to approach [the enemy] without being seen,” T-Bone explained. “Now, drones can spot even a single person moving into position,” added Oleksandr, the tank operator.

Ulvis, the Latvian volunteer soldier, remains hopeful that this kind of success can be repeated. In his view, there is one key requirement: “The ZSU (Ukrainian Armed Forces) has many excellent young officers. If they were allowed more freedom to act [without being tightly controlled from above], we could do it again,” he said.

Scout Maksym, a paratrooper, also believed there were opportunities to replicate a surprise and successful offensive. "The most important thing is to find a weak spot where there aren’t multiple defensive lines," he said. "It’s not so much about manpower; what’s more important is having enough ammunition for the attack." He was referring to artillery shells, rockets, and mortar rounds.

"The issue is entirely about resources. With limited resources, it’s difficult to replicate the success we had back then," acknowledged Danil, the officer from the Kraken special unit.

To this day, Estonian and Latvian volunteer soldiers, T-Bone and Ulvis, continue to fight shoulder to shoulder in Ukrainian ranks.