ON OCTOBER 18, 2023,
THE AVDEEVKA SLAG HEAP WAS TAKEN.
IT’S A STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT SITE NEAR THE COKE PLANT.
THE ASSAULT WAS CARRIED OUT BY A SEPARATE ASSAULT BATTALION OF THE 114TH BRIGADE OF THE RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES.
THE UNIT CARRIED OUT THE OPERATION WITH NO LOSSES.
[Klim] We're not recording yet
[‘White’] The unit has proven effective
and a few people are now saying, 'Tell us more about the tactics'
We can't help them all, but we'll try
[Klim] With Andrey's videos, we'll try to go back...
to the day the slagheap was taken
[Filatov] At first, it seemed our lads would just get slaughtered trying
[Klim] That's tops!
[‘White’] It was easier to take the heap
[Klim] It was easier to take
than to film?
[Klim] Well...
[Klim] We're more or less ready
[Klim] Can you see me when I look over there? Good!
[Klim] I'll try to explain what we're doing
[Klim] There's 3 of us
[Klim] In the studio, there's 'White'...
[‘White’] This is what's needed to make a documentary:
popcorn, coffee, a TV, and a drone
[‘White’] Don't distract me, just let me kill this group of six
[‘White’] Then we'll get on with it
[‘White’] My callsign is 'White'
[‘White’] I command the 114th Separate Assault Battalion
[Klim] And here in the studio, we have Andrey Filatov, a war correspondent
[Filatov] Done, I'll sleep
[Filatov] I'm Andrey Filatov, special correspondent for RT
[Klim] Now, we'll try to do this in a documentary interview format:
a tactical breakdown of the slagheap's capture
RTDOC PRESENTS
[Klim] And, action!
CALLSIGN ‘WHITE’: HEIGHT114
[Klim] OK! Play the video, and the guys will tell us what it was like
[Klim] Gentlemen, we're all ears!
[Filatov] Here it is: the slagheap was a vital position for them
[Filatov] Other guys had tried to take it before us...
many times!
[‘White’] They were equipped to the teeth!
[‘White’] They had AT (anti-tank) missiles, video cameras, Starlinks...
[‘White’] Everything! Brownings...
FPV units too
[‘White’] They had the whole shebang
[Filatov] We're not trying to brag about what we did
We're not saying we killed them all on our own
[Filatov] The art of war is about choosing your tactics based on...
current circumstances
[Callsign: ‘White’, Assault Battalion Commander]
[‘White’] When tasks were assigned,
[‘White’] I had to take the dachas, as it's the shortest way into Avdeevka
[‘White’] There's no faster way in than through the dachas
FOOTAGE FROM ‘WHITE’S ORCHESTRA’. DIRECTED BY KLIM POPLAVSKY
[‘White’] I was told, 'No!
[‘White’] You must attack the slagheap'
[‘White’] I said, 'The slagheap?
[‘White’] I haven't prepared for that' And he said, 'You've only got 2 days'
[‘White’] We hadn't planned to take that location
[Filatov] So, I did some fundraising, bought a few drones,
and we began preparing to move on the slagheap
[‘White’] The Ukies ran off? - Yes!
[‘White’] Our lads engaged! [Soldier] They're running!
[‘White’] Guys, it's over, get to work
[‘White’] We can see above, securing it. You guys are there. Over
[‘White’] The slagheap... I'm from there. I'm a miner
[‘White’] It's a pile of rubble
[‘White’] When coal is mined, what's not needed...
goes there, a mountain of waste
[‘White’] It's a ready-made stronghold
[‘White’] If you're dug in, it's like being in concrete
[Filatov] I must stress that the slagheap is a prominent location
[Filatov] A great view from which they could clearly see our movements
[Filatov] The Ukrainians didn't even need
as many drones as us because they could see it all, every step we took
[Filatov] With a good thermal imager,
they could easily detect a lone infantryman from 20 kilometres
[Filatov] They had a machine gun
[Filatov] So, the slagheap was a vital location for them
[Filatov] Though we captured it without losses, it wasn't easy
[‘White’] One more thing, in front of the heap was what they called the 'bay'
[‘White’] No one could take that for ages either
[Klim] What's a bay?
[‘White’] The railway and nearby woodland, and there's a tunnel under the bridge
[Radio] Even dugouts…
FOOTAGE FROM ‘WAR CORRESPONDENTS-2’: ‘BIRDMAN’ AND ‘GOOD GIRL’ OLYA’, DIRECTED BY KLIM POPLAVSKY
[Radio] Our drone's there. Can you see anything?
[Radio] Spread out
[Filatov] At that 'bay'...
there was some dramatic action because,
of all the units that were supposed to assault the railway,
only the 'Storm' unit was able to
[Filatov] We took some of the woods
[Radio] Move, move! We should hit them!
[Radio] This is me going out…
[‘White’] 'Kid,' 'Kid,' look! This is 'White' [Radio] Two people are moving
7-3-4, damn! Look! Heading for you! Careful!
[‘White’] Yeah, we're on it
[‘White’] We are running out of ammo. We radioed everyone on 4-3
[‘White’] Going, going! There, he's out! He's out! Watch him! He's out!
FOOTAGE FROM ‘WAR CORRESPONDENTS-2’: ‘BIRDMAN’ AND ‘GOOD GIRL’ OLYA’, DIRECTED BY KLIM POPLAVSKY
[‘White’] Watch where he goes
[Radio] They're coming for you, the swine!
[Radio] Go on, try to get out of there!
[‘White’] Come on, buddy, get ready! Hurry it up!
[‘White’] It's easier to lead there
[‘White’] With your guys, you see it all
[‘White’] Ukies are out of the dugout!
[‘White’] There are four of them - Roger!
[Radio] Oh, dammit!
[Radio] Go on, start moving! [Radio] Our spotter's cute!
[Radio] Come on, crawl here!
[Radio] Shoot with what? I'm out!
FOOTAGE FROM ‘WAR CORRESPONDENTS-2’: ‘BIRDMAN’ AND ‘GOOD GIRL’ OLYA’, DIRECTED BY KLIM POPLAVSKY
[Filatov] The big problem with taking the heap was that it was easy to bomb
but tough to get the guys into position
[Filatov] It was 'White' who solved it
[Filatov] He sent small groups in at night, they'd go in and hide
[‘White’] Last time, when we captured the railway,
we pounded them for 10 days
[‘White’] They called for extraction, but we were ready
[‘White’] We already had a gun on them
[‘White’] Their team moved out, but we were ready with an FPV
thanks to radio intercepts
[Filatov] We used a tactical trick: putting our troops under cover 2 days earlier,
and then we waited
[Filatov] In spring 2023,
the enemy began to use spoofing as a means of radio warfare
[Filatov] The drones didn't last long, they'd just fall
[Filatov] After 10-12 minutes, my drone fell
Sh*t! What the hell?
[Filatov] It's still sending images
some bushes...
battered down, and the reeds
[Filatov] Damn, what a shame
[Filatov] Using dynamic coordinate substitution
[Filatov] Firmware 1001 let us disconnect from GPS
and receive ground positioning
FOOTAGE FROM ‘WHITE’S ORCHESTRA’. DIRECTED BY KLIM POPLAVSKY
[Filatov] By then, the enemy wasn't used to having those problems
[Filatov] And we began to actively use it and started pushing them around,
like in a carousel
[Soldier] What the hell did you say? [‘White’] Me? Don't get distracted!
[‘White’] Oh, wow!
[‘White’] Great!
[Soldier] That was nice! [Soldier] OK, that was good! Keep it up!
[Filatov] At the time when...
drone-bombing resumed
[Filatov] We put the enemy in a position where they didn't know what was next
[Filatov] They weren't used to the threat and we made use of the confusion
[Filatov] We were taking over 200 to 300 m of trenches in a day,
with a single Mavic drone!
[Filatov] Most importantly, if the enemy had known that we only had one drone...
[Filatov] We had no spares, if it had gone down, that was it
[Filatov] Then the infantry would have had to advance again, and we'd take casualties
[Filatov] But, we added resourcefulness and began to…
[Filatov] First, for 2 days, we did reconnaissance, closely watching
where and when they patrolled, and then we engaged
[‘White’] Damn! The Ukies are moving. Two clearly visible - 2 targets
[Filatov] We had drones and infantry. 'White' refused right away to go in convoys
[Filatov] He insisted...
on going on foot, leading the men in smaller groups
[Filatov] The brigade commander, knowing we knew what we were doing,
and that we wouldn't shirk combat tasks, left everything to us
[‘White’] The system worked well, we did it stealthily
[Filatov] The nearest battalion was thinking about taking
armoured vehicles to Stepovoe. We fell in with their plan
[Filatov] We realised the enemy wasn't stupid, and once the AVs ( moved,
they'd take potshots at them
[Filatov] That was our window to dash in
[Filatov] We had prepared the day before and started bombing the slagheap
[‘White’] About 30 metres. I see one lying there
[‘White’] We were watching at night, and he said,
'Remember which dugout he goes to'
[Filatov] Hold on! There's a Ukie on the toilet
[Filatov] We fly a drone, without bombs attached, to him on the toilet
[Filatov] I said, 'Turn on the light! Give him a fright!'
[Filatov] We turned on the light right above him. It fired up like a UFO
[Filatov] Seen the grid? - Yes, he's not alone there
[Radio] Yeah, yeah I'm watching
[Filatov] Panicked, he ran into the dugout. It's how we knew which one exactly
Check battery!
[Filatov] We pinpointed several of their dugouts that way
[Filatov] In the morning, we began to engage. This would be our drop right there
[‘White’] They were all over, there were lots of dugouts
[‘White’] We drop a bomb into one:
2 - 3 people run out and into another dugout
[Voice] OK, stand by. We're going back to recharge, and then we'll resume
FOOTAGE FROM ‘WAR CORRESPONDENTS-2’: ‘BIRDMAN’ AND ‘GOOD GIRL’ OLYA’, DIRECTED BY KLIM POPLAVSKY
[Radio] Roger!
04-652
[‘White’] They're fleeing... to the exit, right? To the damn exit!
[‘White’] They're going to the one we kicked them out of
[‘White’] We're now dropping tear gas to impair them visually
[‘White’] If we tear gas them now, we'll put a group forward, so they won't...
so they won't be able to fight back
[Radio] I'm sending them one [Soldier] We're smoking them out alright!
[Filatov] We're dropping a tear gas grenade on where the sh*thead ran to
[Soldier] Alright! [‘White’] Yeah!
[Filatov] We dropped the tear gas grenade. It took them a while to come out
[Filatov] They had been bracing themselves
[Filatov] We were debating whether they were inside or not
[‘White’] They're coming out! Fire at them! They're coming out! Smoked them out!
[‘White’] Alert! Fire! - Fire! The b*stard's come out
[‘White’] Oh, Look! Another dugout got messed up
[‘White’] Another one! Fire! Quick! Fire up the grenade, quick!
[‘White’] Ready the frag grenade! Quick!
[‘White’] Let's bring 'Angara' aboard! 'Angara', this is 'White', come in!
['Angara'] 'White', this is 'Angara' [‘White’] Do we load with the smoke?
[‘White’] 'Angara', we need your help
[‘White’] I dropped tear gas there 15 minutes ago. 4 Ukies ran out of there
[‘White’] We need to kill them or they'll bother us a lot
[Filatov] And here it was like this… like this, and the dugout itself is here
[Filatov] We went inside afterwards [‘White’] Yes, there was a corridor
[‘White’] Use artillery under 150 mm, and no matter how many times you shell,
you won't destroy it
[Voice] They're coming back! We're loading!
[‘White’] Five! Five! Get this, it's a full house! Tear them apart!
[Voice 1] Give me a sec! [Voice 2] Camera on?
[‘White’] They just stopped, bunching together. We need to stun them!
[Soldier] There was a flash. A shell's about to hit
[Soldier] Wow! A big one!
[‘White’] Alright!
[Soldier] More! More! No, it's not 'Rimpe'...
[Filatov] They sat tight under artillery fire
[Soldier] Loaded! Target acquired! Fire!
['Aby'] 'White', this is 'Aby', observe
[Filatov] Tanks moved out OK. Our guys went in there, they withstood everything
[Filatov] The moment we figured out the enemy couldn't take the onslaught…
[Filatov] He's running… [‘White’] He's hard to kill
[Filatov] Don't stop the video
[Filatov] We thought he was done, but off he ran!
[‘White’] Was it a shell or a missile? [Filatov] I don't recall
[Filatov] Look, he's running. And now he'll play dead
[Voice] That's it! He's wounded
[Filatov] We started watching him. I said to the drone pilot:
'Move to another position.' They did and dropped an F-1 grenade
[Andrey Filatov, War Correspondent, RT]
[Filatov] These guys were killing our soldiers the day before
[Filatov] They were under cover, with our guys attacking from below
[Filatov] They were killing our soldiers
[Filatov] They had a petrol generator
[Filatov] It was their choice to hole up there. We just dropped a grenade
[Filatov] When we saw them burning, we realised, a) they were done for,
and b) their comrades, seeing all this, wouldn't take it much longer
[Filatov] These guys were probably shouting, screaming for help
and it breaks their brothers' spirits. So their comrades got out
[Filatov] We took the slagheap without any losses. None of our men lost!
[Filatov] We avenged the guys from the nearest regiment
[Voice 1] Here's a fascist [Voice 2] OK. Watch, then load
[Soldier] Look! Yeah, run you b*stard, run...
[Soldier] What a swine!
[Filatov] That day... Well, the day before that, we eliminated about seven of them there
[Filatov] We brought things to a point that made the enemy panic
[Filatov] We went to that slagheap, to those dugouts 5 days later
[Filatov] They could sit in there... I don't know, until a tactical nuke went off
[Soldier] The drone's ready
[‘White’] Drone's ready, let's fly!
[Voice 1] Do you see the slagheap? [Voice 2] Yeah
[Soldier] Look! Two… two of the b*stards. One's sitting up
[Filatov] For a whole day, we hit them constantly with tear gas and grenades
[Filatov] Wherever they ran, we followed and hounded them,
not letting them rest at all
[Filatov] 4 hours of constant pressure, they melted down, their psyche collapsed
[Filatov] Clearly, when those 20 guys ran,
the Ukies tried to get back to their staff
[Radio] Lekha sees them at 16-46, damn it
[Voice 1] There! [Voice 2] The sh*t!
[Voice 1] 'Mongoose' can see! [Voice 2] 12 on screen!
[Filatov] 'White' was on observation all night
to use artillery fire to cut off their return to the slagheap
[Filatov] When, the next day,
our neighbouring units headed into Stepovoe...
at that moment we shot the video of me saying, 'Wake up 'White'!'
[Soldier] 'Wake up 'White'!
[Filatov] I say: 'Go! Lead the guys!'
[Filatov] That's when the enemy will be distracted by the column
[Filatov] Meanwhile, we could get some small groups in
[‘White’] We'll keep smoking them out. I'll get moving at 4 to 5 pm
[‘White’] I don't want it to be worse later
[Filatov] So we took our men to the slagheap
and finished off the remnants...
the few who stayed...
the wounded and most stubborn... And we took the slagheap
FOOTAGE FROM ‘WAR CORRESPONDENTS-2’: ‘BIRDMAN’ AND ‘GOOD GIRL’ OLYA’, DIRECTED BY KLIM POPLAVSKY
[‘White’] This is 'White'! All Nazis have fled, but I'll run further reconnaissance
[‘White’] Do you have any injured or dead in your group, or are all OK?
[Radio] Fine, fine...
[Radio] Fine, fine, we all got lucky
[‘White’] Good stuff, brother! Two IFVs (infantry fighting vehicle ) with landing troops taken out
[‘White’] Good! We're holding on!
[‘White’] They lost the slagheap
[‘White’] Stupidly! They literally blew it
[Filatov] That's when I called it 'Operation F**k-Up'
[‘White’] I'm sitting in a dugout...
with my soldiers, my warriors
[‘White’] They're all heroes here
[‘White’] They took the slagheap
[‘White’] 114th Assault Squad, right, boys? Damn it, I'm smiling!
[Soldier] Wait, brother. There are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…
[‘White’] They wanted it back?
[Filatov] They knew they'd lost it and attacked the next day
Right. To the right, bearing zero-8
[‘White’] Their group has sat down, we're about to finish them
[‘White’] Guys, I'll recharge, and fly to protect you
[Voice 1] More, damn it [Voice 2] Look further. There must be
[‘White’] In total, overnight, not at once, they came in ones and twos at a time,
but 10 Bradleys came at night, 10
[Radio] Go on, sweetie, go on!
[Radio] I'll refuel you soon
[‘White’] The thing is, it's night, we see the Ukies, they can't see us
[Radio] Move out on top of them and drop it [Voice] Understood, understood!
[‘White’] See that, Klim?
[‘White’] Look!
[‘White’] We only hit them a little, and they don't like it!
[Soldiers] We serve in the 3rd battalion of the 110th Mechanized Brigade, in Avdeevka
[‘White’] They are appealing to their president. Why?
[‘White’] They're sent to storm the slagheap, but they can't even get to it
[‘White’] We got them, dozens dying every day
'We sent 10 Bradleys over,
every one destroyed!' 10 of them, damn!
[‘White’] I should tell you what's going on? - Briefly
[‘White’] We're on defence and just repelled a 2-group attack
[Voice] We came in with a prayer
[‘White’] Of course, that's right! We're Russian, God is with us
[Filatov] In fact, on that day, it was clear we weren't... It's not just drones
that make war. Artillery was firing,
but we only killed Ukies with drones
[Filatov] No matter how much artillery fired, these guys just scattered and
avoided fire
[Filatov] But the drones acted like high-precision guns
[Filatov] We really messed them up
[Filatov] We were fewer: 7 of us went in with the 1st Assault Group
[Filatov] Three drones participated in destroying that enemy group
[Filatov] And the 7 stormtroopers who came in first were stormtroopers from
the 'Storm' Group that we brought in
[Filatov] They were followed by... [‘White’] The 2nd group
[Filatov] The 2nd group... also stormtroopers?
[‘White’] Also my stormtroopers. And when the second...
[Filatov] This was when they shelled us and we flew in from there
[‘White’] The Ukies once even posted a video of how they shelled us with tanks
[‘White’] They said, 'No one came alive.' But we had no wounded or dead
[Klim] You got a medal for the slagheap? [‘White’] Yes, 'Ural' said to go and take it
[‘White’] Something to boast about! I got my 2nd Order of Courage
[‘White’] My medal!
[Klim] 2 more to 'Hero of Russia'
[‘White’] How about 4?
[‘White’] What should I do to get them?
[‘White’] Capture Kiev?
[‘White’] I didn't even know. I went in to report, all dirty, and he says:
'There's a medal for you'
[‘White’] They didn't believe us either, Klim
[‘White’] 'Ural' summoned me...
[‘White’] He said: 'They don't believe you took the slagheap
[‘White’] We need proof for the high command'
[‘White’] So I said: 'I'll hang a flag there'
[‘White’] I said: 'OK, all the brigade commanders should sign it
[‘White’] I'll take this flag to everyone'. We took it
and all the commanders signed it
[‘White’] That's to say, all the battalion commanders
[‘White’] So we ran it up and flew that flag
[‘White’] What happened then? Well, the enemy...
to pretend that it didn't exist, they just shot it down somehow
[‘White’] What did I do the next day?
[‘White’] We retrieved the legendary, autographed flag and put up 3 flags
[Filatov] For a while, they told lies about how they controlled part of the slagheap
[Filatov] And then we all went there with 'White' and climbed up the slagheap
[Voice] An exclusive that never happened. We're here, and the plant's behind us
[Voice] We're on the slagheap, standing under our flags
[Voice] Victory will be ours!
[Filatov] They didn't shoot the flags down after that
[Filatov] But for 4 or 5 days, they propagandised, saying that, at first,
we captured it briefly and fled, then it was allegedly no man's land
[Filatov] Finally, they said the slagheap had no value at all
[Filatov] It wasn't worth fighting over
[‘White’] Let me say that... Well, it'll be fair, since I can't lie
[‘White’] All these successes... I have fewer casualties than in the retaken lands
[‘White’] But it's got nothing to do with my brainpower or any kind of weaponry
[‘White’] It's all down to the fact that I have a team and all sorts of commanders,
such as 'Iskander', 'Danya', 'Fierce One', 'Nixon' and 'Winter'
[‘White’] I can list them all... also Andrey
[‘White’] It's all thanks to the fact that the 114th 'Storm' squad
is a well-coordinated team
[‘White’] Guys, thank you that you're here
[Klim] Great!
[Klim] Thanks, everyone. That's a wrap!