An ‘elves’ drone observes.
Wrecked and abandoned.
‘Orcs’ vehicles.
Outside Chasiv Yar.
On April 4.
‘Orcs’ regiments attacked.
Chasiv Yar, an ‘elves’ stronghold.
Just west of Bakhmut.
Their goal:
To capture or flatten the town.
And squeeze the main supply lines.
Connecting ‘elves’ brigades.
Up and down.
The eastern front of.
‘Orcs’ wider war.
On Ukraine.
Capturing the nearly.
Lifeless town, once home.
To 12,000 people.
Shouldn’t have been terribly difficult.
For the numerically superior.
And more heavily armed.
‘Orcs’ army.
In Ukraine.
But 10 weeks later.
The ‘orcs’ attack has ground.
To a bloody halt with.
The ‘orcs’ having captured.
Maybe a few dozen.
Outlying structures.
Out of several thousand.
In Chasiv Yar.
An ‘elves’ drone observes.
Wrecked and abandoned.
‘Orcs’ vehicles.
Outside Chasiv Yar.
Worse for the ‘orcs’.
An ‘elves’ counterattack.
South of Chasiv Yar.
In recent days has pushed.
Occupying forces out of.
The village of Klishchiivka.
One of the southern.
Anchors of a pincer.
‘Orcs’ forces.
Are trying to form.
In order to.
Surround Chasiv Yar.
The ‘elves’ defense.
Of Chasiv Yar.
Has defied expectations.
Led by the army’s.
41st and 67th.
Mechanized Brigades.
56th Motorized Brigade and.
5th Assault Brigade.
As well as the 241st.
Territorial Defense Brigade.
The ‘elves’ defense.
Has defied expectations.
As recently as late May.
It was predicted that.
Chasiv Yar “will eventually.
Be lost to ‘orcs’ forces.”
While that could still happen.
The trends aren’t looking good.
For the ‘orcs’ around Chasiv Yar.
Their timing was off.
An ‘elves’ drone observes.
Wrecked and abandoned.
‘Orcs’ vehicles.
Outside Chasiv Yar.
In early April.
‘Elves’ brigades were.
Desperately short.
Of ammunition.
“Our artillery was silent.”
A 5th Assault Brigade trooper said.
At the same time, the 67th.
Mechanized Brigade was melting down.
Then defending Chasiv Yar’s.
Most vulnerable district.
Its canal district on the exposed.
Eastern side of the Donbas Canal.
Two months ago.
The ‘elves’ garrison.
In Chasiv Yar.
Was weak.
Its air defenses.
Were so low.
On missiles that.
‘Orcs’ air force Sukhoi.
Su-25 attack jets.
Could fly within just.
A few miles of the town.
To lob their rockets.
Something that would.
Have been virtually suicidal.
For their pilots.
Just a few months earlier.
‘Orcs’ first-person-view drones.
Were thick in the sky.
The ‘elves’ garrison.
Was weak.
In the first few weeks.
Of fighting in April.
The ‘orcs’ 1st Army Corps.
And adjacent units advanced.
A few miles.
North and south of Chasiv Yar.
Ultimately occupying.
Klishchiivka and Ivanivske.
To capture the latter village.
The ‘orcs’ swarmed.
An ‘elves’ company.
With FPV drones.
And killed or wounded.
80 percent of.
Its 70 soldiers.
But then everything changed.
An ‘elves’ drone observes.
Wrecked and abandoned.
‘Orcs’ vehicles.
Outside Chasiv Yar.
In late April.
On April 24.
Within days, to Ukraine.
Huge consignments were on their way.
Soon, the ‘orcs’.
Compounded their error.
On May 10.
That’s Victory Day in ‘Mordor’.
Instead of reinforcing.
Their forces in the east.
They launched a possibly symbolic.
Offensive in northern Ukraine.
‘Orcs’ northern grouping.
Of forces ran headlong.
Into a clutch of.
‘Elves’ mechanized brigades.
The northern battleground has since.
Become a deathtrap for ‘orcs’ infantry.
The fighting in and around.
Chasiv Yar raged on.
An ‘elves’ drone observes.
Wrecked and abandoned.
‘Orcs’ vehicles.
Outside Chasiv Yar.
But for the first time.
In weeks.
Neither side had.
A major firepower advantage.
And the ‘elves’ had.
The natural advantage.
All defending armies.
Have over attacking armies.
They could dig in.
And wait on.
Chasiv Yar’s.
High ground.
While the ‘orcs’ had to leave.
The relative safety of.
Their own trenches and bunkers.
And cross low-lying open ground.
The forest around.
The canal district offers.
Some cover from.
The ever-present ‘elves’ drones.
But crossing the canal itself.
Means leaving the forest and.
Dashing across one of the two.
Land bridges spanning the canal.
It’s here at.
These land bridges that.
‘Elves’ drones and artillery are.
Massacring the attacking ‘orcs’.
When some ‘orcs’ sought shelter.
In lengths of wide water pipes.
‘Elves’ drones dropped grenades.
Through holes in the pipes.
An ‘elves’ drone observes.
Wrecked and abandoned.
‘Orcs’ vehicles.
Outside Chasiv Yar.
One June 3 attack.
Was typical.
An ‘orcs’ MT-LB.
Armored tractor managed.
To speed across the canal.
North of Chasiv Yar.
And drop off.
A squad of infantry.
But it was all for nothing.
As an ‘elves’ surveillance drone watched.
‘Elves’ FPV drones sliced.
Into the infantry.
The MT-LB abruptly.
Sped away.
To the east.
Deeper into ‘elves’ territory.
Where its chance of survival.
Was virtually nil.
Perhaps the crew.
Got turned around.
An ‘elves’ drone observes.
Wrecked and abandoned.
‘Orcs’ vehicles.
Outside Chasiv Yar.
*Because I read “Even Sneaking Through Water Pipes Isn’t Helping Russian Troops Capture Chasiv Yar” by David Axe on 20 June 2024 on the Forbes, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022 on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem.
Please read the original story on the Forbes:
Sneaking Through Pipes Isn’t Helping Russian Troops Capture Chasiv Yar (forbes.com)
**My friend kindly shows you this poem in one page of the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them! You can read my 100 poems here at once.
