Battlefield Ukraine

Rescue Operation

Colonel Vadim Lebed, the Commander of the 45^th Guard’s Detached Spetsnaz Brigade, had just arrived at the training camp several hours ago to inspect the prisoners and take charge of them. He had left his base at Kubinka, outside of Moscow, to personally take charge of the American prisoners once it had been discovered that these men were responsible for carrying out the attacks against the various air defense vehicles his Russian military had provided to the separatist militias. Those air defense vehicles had been preventing the Ukrainian army from being able to use their air force or helicopters, and Colonel Lebed harbored some desire for revenge.

As he opened the door to the SUV that would drive him to the camp, he was greeted by Major Anatoly Pankov, the camp commander, who smiled as he extended his hand. “It’s good to see you, Colonel. Do you want to see the prisoners now, or would you like a brief tour of our facility?”

Major Pankov was an outstanding soldier, a real mover and shaker in the Spetsnaz world. If he kept his nose clean, one day he could command the regiment. Colonel Lebed had selected him to run this camp because he knew that no one would be able to turn these separatist militias into a viable fighting force like he could.

“Major Pankov. It is good to see you too, my friend. Congratulations on the capture of these two Americans. I believe I would like to see what you have done here at the camp first, then we can discuss the prisoners… Please lead the way.” He gestured for him to proceed with the tour. His aide shadowed them, giving them space to talk freely but remaining available in case the colonel needed him.

The two men walked towards one of the buildings that was being used for classroom instruction. “We use this building to go over the construction of Improvised Explosive Devices,” Pankov said as they walked into the room. There was a class going on with eight separatists being shown how to attach the control wires to a 152mm artillery projectile. In time, they would learn how to properly use other explosive objects like mortars, 122mm rockets, blocks of Semtex, and C4.

“We run this course weekly, teaching as many people as possible how to construct IEDs. Since the start of the Kiev offensive, the separatists have been using them multiple times a day. In fact, the separatists we’ve been advising and training are placing nearly a dozen IEDs a day.”

Colonel Lebed nodded in approval. The only way to win a war when heavily outgunned and outnumbered was through asymmetric warfare. The enormous use of IEDs since the start of Kiev’s most recent operation was having the desired effect. They had stopped the fascist forces from crushing the separatists and demoralized their army.

The People’s Republic of Donetsk and Luhansk was still in its infancy. Their ability to defend themselves from the fascist government in Kiev largely depended on their militia forces. It was the responsibility of the 45^th Guards Spetsnaz Brigade to turn this militia force into a viable standing army and force that could protect the new Republic’s national borders.

The two men left the classroom building and made their way towards the main building in the compound. It was a three-story building, which functioned as their operations center. “We have a number of ranges nearby, where we teach them a myriad of different weapon systems, and how to emplace the IEDs and detonate them. We train a hundred soldiers every two weeks at this camp, and have been doing so for nearly two years. To help build up their officer and sergeant corps, we provide a separate four-week course. We train a total of eight officers and sixteen sergeants per training group,” Major Pankov explained proudly.

“Anatoly, you have done a marvelous job turning these unorganized militias into a real military fighting force,” Lebed commented, impressed with how well his protégé had been doing.

The two of them walked through the rest of the building before ending on the third floor, where the two Americans were being held. The Americans were bound and had a few bruises and cuts that there probably obtained during their capture, but otherwise, they looked to be in good health.

“Do you want to talk with them?” Anatoly asked, wanting to make sure his Commander had the opportunity if he wanted it.

“No,” Lebed replied. “I just wanted to see them. Come, let’s go to your office and talk further. We need to review how we are going to handle the American drones and the NATO base at Pryluky.”

The two men talked for several more hours about the new NATO base and whether they should or shouldn’t attack it. It was bad enough that NATO had accepted Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as members, now they had positioned a base in Ukraine. They had crossed a red line; something needed to be done.

Twenty-four hours later, Major Brian Runyon stood in the team room at the Pryluky Air Base, loading his last thirty-round magazine of 5.56mm ammunition for his M4. He placed the loaded magazine into one of the front ammunition pouches on his tactical vest. The men around him were mostly quiet, carefully doing last minute checks of their equipment, weapons and ammunition. Thirty minutes ago, they had been given the final go-ahead by Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to proceed with the recovery of the captured CIA members. Once they had run through the mission brief, they would quickly move out to the aircraft that would fly them to the target.

As Brian looked around the room, he could see the intense look on everyone’s faces. These men were killers — professionals, but killers just the same. This mission, unlike many others they had conducted over the last decade, was against an actual army, not Islamic extremists. They would be battling against what would most likely be a Russian Spetsnaz team, one that knew how to handle themselves in a gunfight.

Colonel Richards (who had been the Commander of 1^st Special Forces Detachment Delta for nearly two years) walked into the room with General Luka and John Williams, along with several other military members. The table at the center of the room was covered in weapons, and the briefers were loading up their presentations to project on the big screen at the end of the room. As Richards and his cohorts walked in, all activity and chatter stopped and the men’s eyes turned to their leader. They all had tremendous respect for this man, who had been in Special Forces and floated around between various groups, in and out of Delta, for most of his career.

Looking at Major Runyon, Colonel Richards said, “I won’t sugarcoat it; this is going to be a tough mission Brian. However, I have complete faith in your team to get this done and bring our guys home.” His voice was filled with sincerity and confidence.

Major Brian Runyon just nodded in acknowledgement. Like Colonel Richards, he had spent most of his military time in Special Forces. He had joined Delta as a Captain after serving a number of years in the Army Rangers (with whom he had completed a whole series of combat deployments). Now a Major, Brian was aware that this was by far the most dangerous mission of his life.

The briefers indicated they were ready to begin. Everyone in the room moved to the chairs and took out their notebooks. The first briefer began, “All right men — here is our target. We are going to be assaulting an unofficial Russian Spetsnaz base camp, located deep inside rebel territory, near the Russian border. As you can see on the images on screen, the compound consists of one three-story building, two smaller outbuildings, and a four-car garage. It also has a six-foot tall cinderblock wall surrounding the buildings. There are two personnel entrances, here and here, and one vehicle entrance, here.”

Everyone was paying careful attention as the images on the screen continued to update. “Surrounding the compound is a wooded area. About 500 meters to the south, behind the compound, there is a small creek that snakes towards the highway. This is where they have parked an air defense vehicle. In front of the compound is an open field that leads to the main road and runs through several farms fields.” He picked up a ruler and pointed to this area for emphasis. “This is where the exfiltration will take place,” announced the briefer.

The men nodded, and the briefer continued. “On the base, you can expect to find a Spetsnaz detachment, which consists of roughly 20 operators. A company of Russian soldiers provides the perimeter security for the compound (in addition to the SA-17 and SA-19 air defense vehicles I previously pointed out). This location has been used as a logistics, training, and operational hub by the Russians for the past three years. Since they’ve set up operations here, they have trained hundreds, if not thousands, of separatist fighters here.”

An Air Force Master Sergeant stood up to present his briefing next. He brought up a 3D animation of the structure, showing various guards at different locations and began to describe the images, “This is the building where the prisoners are being held. Surveillance indicates the prisoners are being held on the top floor of this third-floor building, in this room here.” He used his laser pointer to identify the specific room they believed the prisoners were being held in.

“As you can see, the building has an entrance to the roof here. We’ve identified three guards on the roof. One of them appears to be holding a MANPAD while the others are carrying assault rifles. There is one guard outside the prisoner’s doors, also armed with assault rifle. The guards are clearly on alert for a potential raid — they anticipate we might try to rescue our people — so you need to neutralize them.”

Half of the men seemed concerned that the soldiers were going to be prepared for their mission, and the other half were excited about the orders that had just been given; they would not have to hold back.

The Master Sergeant continued, “The second floor appears to be their sleeping quarters. We estimate the various rooms can house roughly twenty personnel. From our observation, there appears to be roughly six to ten people sleeping in there at any given time. The first floor is where their operations appear to be run out of. This room is the communications room,” the briefer said pointing with his laser pen, then moving to identify the other rooms on the first floor as well. “Here is the weapons room, the kitchen, and two storage rooms. We are not sure what they are using the basement for or what is down there. The outbuildings appear to be training rooms, they will be empty this time of day.”

Switching to some new images of the exterior of the compound, “This is what concerns us. The Russians have deployed one of their SA-17s which is near the tree line here” the briefer pulled up several satellite images of the unit in relationship to the structures around it.

Pulling up a different image, “About a quarter mile away, in this area here, is a SA-19 "Grison” air-defense system. The two of these systems provide them with both short and medium air defense capabilities against both aircraft and helicopters. Therefore, you will be inserted via a high altitude, low opening HALO jump and land in this area here,” several additional images were shown of an empty farm field maybe a quarter mile away from the compound.

The briefer then brought up some live feed surveillance videos being taken by a Global Hawk operating not too far away. The briefer was talking to the drone operator, and they were walking through the terrain of the landing zone and the various approaches to the Russian compound. They clearly saw guards on various roving patrols. Everything they had been shown on the previous slides was matching up to the real-time video they were watching.

Colonel Richards spoke up, “As you can see, there are the roving patrols that are going to need to be dealt with.”

The JSOC briefer then resumed talking to the group, “There are the three guards on the roof… then there are two groups of three roving guards that walk the perimeter.” Images shifted to show the vehicle locations, and various guard positions that would need to be neutralized.

Several of the members of A Squadron looked around at each other, a little apprehensive of what they were hearing and seeing. This was clearly going to be a tough and complex raid. It was not every time they got to see live video surveillance of a target they would be hitting in less than six hours.

The Master Sergeant carried on. “Upon landing, Alpha team will immediately move to the north side of the perimeter to neutralize the guards at the air defense systems and place the explosives on the truck. It’s imperative that you take out that SA-19 first, then move to the next unit. If those vehicles are not taken out, it’s going to be a long walk for you guys back to friendly territory.”

“Bravo team will move to the south side of the perimeter, taking out the guards here and here, and the three guards near the vehicles on this side of the compound. There are six armored personnel carriers, which are a mix of BTRs and BMPs. You will also need to get your explosives placed on those vehicles. Charlie and Delta team will enter the compound here, at this entrance. Once inside, there are two guards here, at the entrance to the compound. They will need to be eliminated quickly. Once they are cleared, you will have to move down the hallway past one door, which should just be a closet.”

He coughed once, then took a swig of water from his canteen before he continued. “The stairs leading to the other floors will be on the right. The stairwell continues all the way to the roof. I will leave it to your discretion as to how you want to clear the building and recover the prisoners.”

Major Runyon interrupted to ask, “ — Assuming this all goes according to plan, how are we going to get out? I suspect the Russians probably have other air defense assets in the area.” He was not sure he was going to like the response he was about to be given.

An Air Force LNO replied, “They may have additional air defense units in the area. We are going to have a couple of jamming aircraft loitering over friendly skies to assist in your recovery. When the time comes, they will turn their jammers on and blanket the area. This should neutralize any additional air defense systems.”

A member of the Night Stalkers picked up where the Air Force LNO stopped, “Once you have secured the prisoners, you will send the coded message, letting us know you are ready for extraction. The exfil aircraft will be loitering at this location here, roughly five minutes from your location. We will be using three of our new and experimental V-280 ‘Valor’ tilt-rotor wing helicopters for the exfil. They will be escorted by a pair of Apaches.”

Several of the men let out a soft whistle as they looked at the image of the V-280. “I was not aware that the Night Stalkers had a new helicopter,” General Luka said in admiration.

“This will actually be our first mission using them,” explained a Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CW4) from the Night Stalkers. “We started training on them about three months ago. We did not plan on using them in an operation for at least another year, but because of the air defense threat of this mission, it was felt they should be used. They are not stealth per se, but they have a significantly reduced radar signature and are extremely quiet for a helicopter.”

“As long as we don’t end up with a scenario where one crashes like what happened on the bin Laden raid back in 2012,” Colonel Richards said. He was unsure if this was a good idea, but he had been overruled on the decision.

The CW4 added, “This is why we are bringing a third one with us. They can carry eleven soldiers and their gear, more than enough room for this mission.”

Major Runyon asked another question, “What air support do we have? Also, what will be the contingency plan if things go downhill fast?” No one wanted to think about the worst-case scenario, but Runyon’s personal philosophy was that you plan for it, then you have a better chance of survival.

The JSOC briefer piped up, “This is why the rest of your Delta group and the Ranger Company are here in Ukraine. They are your Quick Reaction Force if you need to be bailed out. The Night Stalkers have four Blackhawks and three Chinooks, along with another two Apache helicopters on standby. They will lift off once you guys start your insertion, so they will be loitering over friendly skies, ready to move if given the order. As to air support, the Air Force will have one of their electronic jamming aircraft initiate a full-spectrum jamming across the targeted area. They will take the Russian communications system down immediately once you are in place; they will also make sure their radars are down when it comes time to exfil. If things really go south, there are also two F-35s loitering at high altitude ready to provide direct air support if needed.”

The Air Force LNO jumped back in to add, “We know that if the strikes are needed, they will pose a threat to our own forces by proximity, so the F-35s will each be carrying four 250 lbs. Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) and two 500 lbs. JDAMs, which are small enough and precise enough to carry out a surgical hit. Beyond that, we have a Spector gunship that will be on standby on the runway here at the airport along with four additional F-16s carrying more JDAMs.” The LNO’s tone implied that this was probably overkill.

General Luka then spoke up, “Listen, we are hoping this operation will go off smoothly. We understand you are going to hit some resistance, but we do not want to escalate the situation any further than it already has. You guys are the best special operators we have. Just get in, neutralize the guards, and get our people out of there.”

John Williams, the CIA man, sensed the apprehension in the room as the gravity of the mission began to sink in. He decided to try and rally the crew. “Look, it’s an awful situation we find ourselves in, but we have two operators being held captive, and we do not leave a man behind. You guys are going to go in there and get our guys back. Plain and simple.”

The briefing ended after a few more questions. The operators who had been assigned to the mission began to discuss the plans amongst themselves. They went over who would be responsible for taking out each guard, their sectors of fire, and how they would proceed. The men spent the better part of two hours deliberating every aspect of the mission with the briefers before they felt they had a firm grasp on exactly how things were going to go down. When they were done talking it through, it was 2300 hours, and they were set to board the C17 that would take them to their jump points at 0130. The real festivities were scheduled to begin around 0300, roughly an hour before the next shift change between the guards.

It was relatively dark in the back of the C-17 as the Delta team got ready for perhaps their most dangerous mission in decades. The aircraft had reached its cruising altitude for the jump and the pilot had already dimmed the cargo lights and switched them over to a soft red tone. The two crew chiefs began to walk towards the back of the aircraft and started to lower the ramp at the rear of the plane. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, until they could begin to see everything without additional lighting; the men began to get themselves mentally ready to make this dangerous night insertion into separatist territory.

As the cool night air started to circulate through the back of the aircraft, Major Runyon wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. He stood up and moved towards the ramp with the rest of his team. The men began the ritual of checking and double-checking their equipment, and the aircraft tilted to one side as it made one final correction. As the aircraft leveled out again, the jump light turned red, indicating it was time for them to get ready. The crew chiefs lowered the ramp the rest of the way, opening the back of the aircraft to the black abyss below. Then the light turned from red to green, and the eighteen operators began to disgorge from the aircraft to attempt a high-stakes rescue.

As the wind whipped past his face, Brian couldn’t help but think how insane this mission was… they were jumping into what was essentially a Russian Special Forces base. This was a far cry from the previous assignments they had undertaken, going after Islamic extremists and the occasional drug lord. This was a mission against a legitimate army, one that trained tirelessly to fight America.

In the operations room at the airfield, the JSOC team (along with the CIA and SDO) watched the various helmet cams and drone feeds of the mission on large 50-inch screens, anxious as the team members began their approaches to the target. The first team was just coming into weapons range and would start to engage the guards soon.

The four team members of Alpha broke off from the group and headed stealthily through the woods in the direction of the SA-19; they winded their way through the brush and undergrowth silently, like only trained operators could do. Once they arrived at their checkpoint, they would neutralize the guard force and prepare to blow up the missile system remotely. Two of Bravo team’s six-man group assembled their sniper rifles and moved quickly to their over-watch positions. As soon as they got settled into their spot 400 yards away from the compound, they would engage the guards on the roof. It was a good evening for them to get off clear shots — there was barely any wind, and it was just overcast enough to block some of the light of the moon, so the Russians would be less likely to see them coming. Once the roof guards had been taken out, they would shift their fire to the rest of the guard force, allowing time for the rest of the Bravo, Charlie and Delta teams to move into the compound.

At the airfield, everyone held their collective breath for a minute as Charlie and Delta teams continued to move toward their targets. The Bravo team snipers cleared a path for them as they moved quietly through the woods. They stopped every so often to peer around the tree trunks and make sure that the enemy hadn’t spotted them yet. As they got closer to one of the air defense vehicles, one of the Charlie members spied two men manning the system and three more guards. He silently exchanged hand signals to explain how many men he had seen and where they were positioned. Within moments, they had neutralized all five men with surgical precision, barely making any sounds at all; their rifles had silencers, and they had all been taken down with two shots to the chest and one to the head, so none of them were making any noises either.

A couple of the Charlie team members verified that the five men were indeed dead. Then they all walked around the bodies so that they could begin to place C4 bricks on the control panel and directly on the missile pods, which were wired up to remote-control detonators. Then they quickly moved on to the next task, continuing to clear the perimeter around the compound.

Delta team approached the entrance on the south side of the perimeter wall. As they moved towards the parked enemy vehicles, they shot three of the guards with their suppressed rifles. They all dropped instantly, without hardly a sound. At that moment, a Spetsnaz soldier (who had been using the “bathroom” in the tree line nearby) saw his comrades go down and immediately knew they were under attack. He released the safety on his rifle and took aim at two of the attackers he saw move past where his comrades had just been. Then he fired a quick burst from his rifle.

One of the Americans was killed outright when a bullet hit him in the neck and head, another was severely injured when he was struck several times in the chest and right shoulder. The other two operators returned fire, quickly killing the Russian before he even had time to zip up his pants. Unfortunately, the sound of roughly twenty rounds being rapidly fired had alerted the remaining guards and those in the compound that someone was attempting to attack their base.

Delta team, which had been at the edge of the perimeter wall, immediately kicked in the door to the side entrance leading into the compound. In seconds, they were inside the perimeter and had taken out the two guards at the side door to the building. An unlucky Russian soldier was exiting the door as they approached. With a rapid three round burst, the man dropped immediately to the ground. A second Russian soldier had been right behind him, and was also hit by the bullets. He fell backwards into the hallway.

Before any additional soldiers could run through the door, one of the Delta members threw a flash bang into the hallway, which would stun anyone rushing towards the exit with its excessively bright light and irritatingly high-pitched sound. As soon as it burst, several Delta members rushed in and began to move down the hallway, throwing fragmentation grenades into each room. These would spray anyone still in those areas with bursts of deadly shrapnel.

Delta’s four-man team began to sprint up the stairs, charging forward to the room that was holding the hostages. Just as they approached the entrance to the second floor, several Spetsnaz soldiers opened the door to the stairwell, and they literally ran into each other. Shocked, there was nothing else for either side to do other than to open fire at close range. In seconds, four Spetsnaz soldiers were dead along with two of the Delta members. The other two Delta operators survived the shootout and threw several fragmentation grenades down the hallway of the second floor to clear out any remaining hostiles. Then they proceeded to head towards the third floor toward their priority target.

As they reached the entrance to the third floor, one of the members threw a flash bang into the hallway and counted to two. Once the grenade went off, they both entered the hallway and neutralized the guards on the floor. They moved quickly to the room where the Americans were being held and shot the lock off. As they entered the room, they saw the two Americans, bound on the floor, bloodied and bruised. They quickly untied their hands and feet and instructed them, “Follow us out of the building!”

Charlie team had just finished clearing the first floor; they moved quickly to help Delta. As Charlie moved up to the stairwell, they collected the bodies of their two fallen comrades. Then they assisted Delta team in moving the prisoners to the extraction point.

Major Runyon sent a quick message to headquarters, “Mission completion. Three KIA. Requesting extraction and gunship support.”

While the breach team was moving the prisoners and casualties out of the building, Alpha and Bravo team were heavily engaged outside. Alpha detonated their charges on the SA-19, shooting a bright and loud explosion into the night sky. Soon after, the charges on the other air defense vehicles and armored personnel carriers were ignited as well.

As the snipers of Bravo team continued to pick off enemy soldiers, they spotted several of them sealing themselves into one of the armored personnel carriers. Once inside the vehicle, they immediately began to work the heavy machine gun, pouring 30mm cannon rounds into the American positions near the perimeter wall and the main compound. All the noises from the shooting and explosions had also alerted several of the militia units that were staying in the surrounding area that something was going on. Those forces began to mobilize and head towards the Russian compound to see what all the fuss was about.

The operations team watching the drone feeds sent a series of updates to Major Runyon, letting him know about the additional enemy forces converging on their position. As the Russian armored vehicle continued to discharge showers of heavy machine gun fire on the Americans, one of the Delta members unslung the AT4 from his backpack, mounted it on his shoulder, took aim at the troop carrier, and fired. In a split second, the rocket fired from the tube and impacted on the side of the vehicle, causing a small explosion. A few seconds later, smoke billowed excessively from its side, and then flames began to grow more and more noticeable.

Runyon yelled into his radio, “Command, this is Striker one. We need air support. Take out those incoming reinforcements and keep them away from our LZ until our gunships arrive. How copy?” As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his rifle to fire another three-round burst in the direction of several enemy soldiers.

“Striker one, this is Command. Good copy, standby for air support,” the JSOC operators radioed back.

High above the battle going on below, Lightning One received the call to begin dropping ordinance. The F-35 pilot entered the targeting data and double-checked it before arming his JDAMs. In a matter of seconds after receiving the order to engage the ground targets, Lightning One dropped two of his 250 lbs. smart bombs and began to guide them in towards several of the vehicles heading towards the compound.

As the Delta operators moved to the extraction point, the fighting began to die down until it eventually stopped. The two JDAMs demolished several of the vehicles that had been carrying additional reinforcements towards the Russian compound. The arrival of the two Apache gunships further eviscerated what little resistance remained in the area. As the gunships circled the area, the V-280s landed and picked up the team and began to whisk them away to safety.

Wiping the sweat from his face, Major Runyon sat in the helicopter and began to run through the operation in his head and ruminate on the details of what transpired. Three of their comrades had been killed, and another four more were injured. However, they had recovered the prisoners before they could be transferred to Russia. They had also thoroughly destroyed a Russian Spetsnaz base and killed many separatist rebels.