Major Tomov: How the Armed Forces captured a battalion commander

 

Major Tomov's epic. How the Armed Forces captured a combatant

BBC

August 15, 2023

View Original

Photo caption: Russian battalion commander Yury Tomov during interrogation in Ukrainian captivity

Article information

• Author, Oleg Chernysh
• Role, BBC Ukraine
• August 15, 2023

At the beginning of August, the Ukrainian military managed to conduct an interesting operation. The landing force of the Armed Forces landed on the left bank of the Kherson region and captured the commander of the enemy battalion.

In the afternoon of August 8, Russian pro-war telegram channels began to spread messages about the landing of Ukrainian troops on the left bank of the Kherson region near the village of Kozachi Lageri.

This settlement on the bank of the tributary of the Dnieper - the Konky River - is located exactly in the middle between the largest occupied cities of the left bank of the Kherson region: Oleshka and Novaya Kakhovka.

The first to write about it were the Russian "war correspondent" Volodymyr Romanov and the former fighter of the so-called DNR Yehor Guzenko (call sign "Thirteenth"). They stated that part of the Cossack Camps had already been captured by the Ukrainians.

Unexpected landing

According to their data, the Ukrainian military not only landed near the Cossack Camps, but also created a bridgehead there, holding the western part of the village. Thus, this will already be the second bridgehead on the left bank of the Kherson region, which the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were able to create since the beginning of summer.

The first one is located between Kherson and Oleshki near the destroyed Antoniv bridge. Despite the statement of the Russian authorities, it was not possible to dislodge the Ukrainian troops from it.

As for the Cossack Camps, this place is optimal for the further advance of Ukrainian troops.

Firstly, the northern part of the settlement is close to the wetlands, where there are a large number of small islands, lakes, streams and dense vegetation.

On the southern edge of the Cossack Camps lies the T2206 route, which connects Oleshki and Nova Kakhovka and is obviously an important logistical artery for the Russian troops in the South.

And another 15 km to the southwest is the E97 highway, which leads to the Crimea.

The Ukrainian authorities remained silent all these days. Only Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar reported on August 12 that "certain units performed a certain task" on the left bank of the Kherson region:

"In order to land there, not to be destroyed and also to gain a foothold, it is necessary to clear the territory and repel the enemy. We protect people, so we work as a counter-battery."

The occupying Russian authorities hastened to declare that the situation near the Cossack Camps was under control. Volodymyr Saldo, the governor of the Kherson region appointed by Moscow, reported on August 8 that the Ukrainian landing party on two boats really "tried to land" in that area.

But the Russian troops apparently noticed it in advance, destroyed it and prevented it from landing on the shore.

At the same time, a video began to spread on Russian TG channels, which should also confirm the "failure of the Armed Forces."

It shows how a man who calls himself the commander of the 1822 intelligence battalion, Major of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Yuri Tomov, is interrogating prisoners lying tied on the ground.

Tomov says in the video that these are Ukrainian soldiers who landed near the Cossack Camps and were captured.

This record should put all the dots on the "and" - the landing of the Armed Forces failed, Ukrainian fighters were destroyed, some were captured and there is no bridgehead. But it turned out that this is not so.

Photo by RUvoenkory

The missing major

Almost immediately after the statements of the occupation authorities of the Kherson Region, pro-war bloggers of the Russian Federation, for example, the already mentioned "Thirteenth", began to draw attention to some contradictions.

In particular, why should an intelligence officer show his face on camera and give his name and position.

The most important thing is that Commander Tomov, who apparently successfully completed the task of "liquidating the Ukrainian bridgehead", disappeared and was not contacted.

Already on August 9, the militant Guzenko assumed that the Russian major and his group of 16 fighters were captured by the Ukrainians. First, they were allegedly lured into an ambush, and then their mobile phones were used to call for help and capture even more Russian soldiers.

Major Tomov was "searched" for several days in the Russian segment of TG channels. One part of the pro-war bloggers assured that the Ukrainians not only captured the combatant, but were also expanding their bridgehead near the Cossack Camps, the other accused the former of panicking and working for the enemy, and also denied the existence of the bridgehead and the capture of the Russian officer.

However, soon new videos with the major began to appear on social networks.

Initially, Telegram channels, in particular Gray Zone, close to the "Wagner" PMC, published a video on August 13 of Tomov kneeling and showing the location of Russian positions in the Kherson region on a map. The Ukrainian language can be heard behind the scenes. Apparently, the recording was made immediately after the major was captured by the Ukrainians on August 7 or 8.

In just a couple of hours, the pro-Ukrainian Telegram channel "Nikolaevsky Vanyok", which collects intelligence for the Armed Forces, published a full video recording of the interrogation of Kombat Tomov in captivity.

According to the Geneva Conventions, prisoners of war cannot be exposed to the general public.

At the same time, the same video was published on August 14 by the channel of the state project "I want to live", which is coordinated by the Main Directorate of Intelligence and was created for applications from Russian soldiers who want to surrender.

In the video, the man introduces himself as Yury Anatoliyovych Tomov, born in 1977. According to him, he was mobilized in September 2022, and for some time before that he was involved in the protection of the facility where nuclear ammunition is stored.

After arriving in the occupied territories of Ukraine in October of last year, Tomov received the position of chief of staff of battalion number 1822. Later, he assumed the position of battalion commander.

Judging by what he calls the losses of his unit as of August 6, it can be assumed that the combatant was captured by the Ukrainians on August 7.

In the video, Tomov talks about the losses of his battalion (more than 20%), and also criticizes its training. But it is worth considering that this video was recorded when Major Tomov was already a prisoner of Ukrainian troops.

The video shows signs of editing, the BBC could not verify it as of August 14.

The BBC contacted the GUR for a comment on Major Tomov's case and the recording of the video republished by the "I Want to Live" project, but as of August 15 had not received a response.

The Coordinating Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War did not confirm or deny that the Russian officer Tomov is in Ukrainian captivity.

"At the moment, we are refraining from commenting," the center's spokesman, Petro Yatsenko, told BBC Ukraine.

At the same time, a source in the security forces reported that Tomov "has not yet gone through all the stages" of the procedure of registration as a prisoner. "I think we will be able to give more information about him in the near future," said the interlocutor of the BBC.

It appears that Tomov is currently one of the most high-ranking Russian soldiers in captivity of the Armed Forces.

After analyzing all these videos, the Russian soldiers came to the conclusion that the soldiers of the Armed Forces managed to outwit the enemy.

It is likely that Yury Tomov recorded the video about the "destruction of the Ukrainian bridgehead" while he was still in Ukrainian captivity. The goal was to hide the very fact of the successful landing of the Armed Forces and to mislead the enemy.

War correspondent Roman Saponkov cites the fact that in the first "victorious" video there are even remnants of leaves on the combatant's T-shirt, which are also present in the second video, where he is already captured by the Ukrainians.

"It turns out that it was unprofitable for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to advertise the capture of the plot on the left bank on the outskirts of the Cossack Camps, and they threw in a wonderful fake," notes Saponkov.

The American analytical center "Institute for the Study of War" (ISW) in its report for August 13 summarizes that Russian military bloggers "continue to discuss" Ukrainian activity on the left bank of the Kherson region and the possible presence of an armed forces bridgehead near Cossack Camps.

The Ukrainian authorities do not confirm the presence of a bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper.

⁂

**Headline:** Major Tomov: How the Armed Forces captured a battalion commander

**Subtitle:** Revealing the details of the epic feat led by Major Tomov

**Introduction:**

The Ukrainian military carried out a remarkable operation in late summer, landing Ukrainian forces on the left bank of the Kherson region and capturing an enemy battalion commander.

**Description for search robots:**

The article tells about the unexpected landing of the Ukrainian military on the left bank of the Kherson region, where they created a second bridgehead this summer. The details of the successful operation, during which a Russian battalion commander was captured, are revealed. Video footage showing the military man's attempt to declare defeat to the Ukrainian military and his fate in captivity is analyzed.

**Tags.

#Ukraine, #JIT, #Mastodon, #FreePress, #News, #Russia, #OSINT, #RussiaUkraineWar, #OOSI, #CIT, #CASBT

**Key words for SEO specialists:**

mobilization, battalion, capture, commander, Kherson region, Armed Forces, landing, Russian troops, military operation, epic feat, defeat.

**Social media hashtags:**

#Ukraine #JIT #Mastodon #FreePress #News #Russia #OSINT #RussiaUkraineWar #OOSI #CIT #CASBT

**Final part (conclusion):**

The Russian battalion commander, Major Yuri Tomov, was captured by the Ukrainian military after an unexpected landing of the Armed Forces on the left bank of the Kherson region. This epic operation is a testament to the successful feat of the Ukrainian military and makes it clear that the real winners have managed to outwit the enemy.

Просмотры: