Battlefield Ukraine

Old Friend

Lieutenant General Mikhail Chayko was not happy with the progress of his forward units. They had been stopped from securing Kiev twice in the last twenty-four hours, and now the Americans and British had rushed in two armored brigades. Securing the city just became a lot more challenging… not impossible, but certainly a lot more difficult.

He sent a second message to the 4^th Guard’s Tank Division, the 2^nd Guard’s Motor Rifle Division and the 6^th Tank Brigade. “We have to secure Kiev by morning tomorrow,” he directed. “It is imperative that we drive out the Americans now, before they hurry any additional combat forces into Europe.”

LTG Chayko wasn’t sure that all of his comrades were pulling their weight, but his Air Force counterpart had tried to reassure his fears. “A major air operation is well underway,” he asserted. “Your armored units will have continuous air support for the next twenty-four hours while you secure Kiev.”

He tried to remain optimistic about their chances. As Mikhail sat there looking at the various maps, an old friend walked in. His face lit up, and he immediately passed his comrade a flask of vodka. “Admiral Ivan Vitko, it’s good to see you. I feared you had been killed the other day when your base had been hit by the Americans.”

Admiral Vitko took the flask and downed several large gulps before handing it back and taking a seat opposite his friend. “Thank you, Comrade. It has been a long couple of days. The Americans will have to try harder if they want to kill me,” he said, snickering.

After only a moment, his face suddenly turned very serious again. “General Chayko, I wanted to talk with you about something of great urgency,” he said, lowering his voice as if discussing a secret.

Chayko sighed. “Ugh… I am already under a lot of pressure from Moscow,” he thought. “Why do I suddenly have the feeling that he is about to drop another problem in my lap? I don’t have time for that.”

“As you can imagine Admiral, I am dealing with my own problems. What is so urgent that you traveled all the way here to meet me in person?” he asked tentatively, not sure he really wanted the answer.

Vitko pulled out a map, and placed it on the table between them. “This is where the NATO fleet is currently located. As you know, most of my fleet has been sunk. I still have two Oscar submarines and a couple of Kilos trying to stay alive right now. This here is the problem,” he said, pointing to the map.

“The Americans have moved a second Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Black Sea. It will give them close to 7,000 Marines. I believe the Marines are going to try and launch a seaborne invasion along the coast of Ukraine. This could present a massive problem for you, my friend,” Vitko said as he pulled his own flask of vodka out and took a large drink from it.

“If I had known he had his own vodka, I wouldn’t have offered him some of mine,” Chayko thought, rather annoyed.

“This could certainly be a problem,” he responded aloud. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. How do you propose we handle this, if you have no fleet and I have to keep my forces focused on capturing Kiev?” he asked hoping he had a solution.

Smiling, Vitko pulled out another piece of paper. “This, this is how I propose we solve the problem. That, and of course, I need some of your air power,” he said. What he had been pointing to was a dossier on the new drone that the Russian Air Force was going to unveil shortly against NATO, the Zhukovs. They were being held as a surprise, which is why they had not been used yet, but there would certainly be merits for using them now.

The new Russian drone system was very similar to the American Reaper. It was designed to be a standoff missile platform with three hard points on each wing for missiles. It could be used in an anti-tank role or anti-air role.

“Comrade, we need to defeat this American battlegroup in the Black Sea before they land their Marines and the Americans send in more ships,” said the admiral. “They already have a second aircraft carrier on the way. What I would like to propose is to hit the Americans with a missile swarm attack — but of course, I would need your aircraft for that.” He took another pull of vodka from his flask.

Chayko rubbed his stubbled chin, thinking about this. While he wanted to keep his aircraft focused on ground support and maintaining air superiority, he also recognized the importance of keeping the American navy out of the Black Sea.

“Tell me Comrade, how would this missile swarm attack work?” he asked, wanting more details.

“I would need you to commit your fighters to head towards the NATO forces in Romania and engage them. While they are fighting in the air, your Backfire bombers would be equipped with anti-ship missiles and once in range, would release them all at once. Your bombers would never be in any real danger because their missiles can be fired beyond the range of the American naval surface-to-air missile systems.”

The admiral continued, “Following in behind the cruise missiles, your Su-27s and Su-34s would then move into range of their smaller, yet still dangerous, anti-ship missiles and release them as well, further adding to the swarm of missiles that would be headed to the American fleet. The overarching goal is to overwhelm their defenses and sink them.”

“You mentioned my Zhukovs. How did you envision using them?”

Smiling, Admiral Vitko answered, “Yes, this would be the big surprise. We would have them fly low, right at ground level. We fly them beneath the air battle taking place between your fighters and the NATO fighters. Once they have maneuvered behind them, we turn them around, raise them up a few hundred feet, and then fire off their air-to-air missiles. The NATO aircraft will be so focused on dealing with your fighters, they will never suspect that drones had been flown in behind them. They should easily shoot down a number of additional NATO aircraft, which again, should help aid in your efforts to secure air supremacy over Ukraine.” The corners of his lips curled up in a devilish smile.

Chayko thought about the plans as he looked at the map across from where they were seated. It was a risky move committing so many of his aircraft and bombers to one battle, but if he won, it could be a decisive victory and help end the war sooner.

“All right, Comrade. You have sold me on this little plan of yours. Let’s work together now to iron out the details and make it happen,” he said raising his own flask in salute.