The international delegation, headed by Ana Lucía Bueno, ICRC Public Health Coordinator, and Sujit Panda, Head of the Physical Rehabilitation…
Multi-story panel buildings in Stepnohirske, in the Zaporizhzhia direction, are being blown up by Russians using backpacks filled with TNT.
This was reported on February 23 on Army TV by the chief of staff of the 3rd Mechanized Battalion of the 157th Separate Mechanized Brigade, call sign “Talib”.
“They took backpacks with TNT that were dropped to them from drones. A TM anti-tank mine weighs ten kilograms — you still have to carry it. But they were simply receiving 1–2 kg of TNT daily. They accumulated it, collected it, packed it into backpacks, and threw these backpacks”, — he said.
The explosive power of several kilograms of TNT is enough to completely destroy the entrance section of a panel apartment building.
“These are all panel buildings with lots of small vents and openings. One such backpack collapses an entire entrance. They blew up me and my guys too — they suffered burns”, — the soldier said.
Russian command sends suicide troops to throw backpacks with TNT into entrances — sometimes they blow up buildings along with themselves.
“They run without body armor, without anything. One stepped on a mine, exploded, and died with the backpack. We thought that was it. Half an hour later, another one runs up, picks up the backpack from the corpse, and throws it further.
These are some kind of suicide troops. There were even cases when they blew up the building along with themselves”, — “Talib” said.
Heavy fighting for Stepnohirske continues. The enemy has entered several streets on the outskirts of the town and continues assault operations.
“In general, the situation is steadily tense. For half a year, the enemy has tried to enter Stepnohirske — before winter, it attempted repeatedly with small infantry groups to completely capture it. In essence, it has not succeeded in half a year.
If in summer the fighting was on the approaches, now there is fighting inside Stepnohirske — on the lowest streets. The enemy enters, tries to occupy buildings, but suffers heavy losses from drones, infantry, and our assault actions. The enemy does not control Stepnohirske”, — assured the chief of staff of the 3rd Mechanized Battalion of the 157th Separate Mechanized Brigade, call sign “Talib”.
