As the radio crackles with hard-to-decipher enemy communications, a Russian commando clearly says: “Prepare five bags of Chinese orange tea.”
A Ukrainian soldier known on the battlefield as Mikhass, who has died months listening and analyzing those conversations, quickly decode slang. That means: preparing five Beijing-made artillery shells and firing them at a specific Ukrainian position in the Serebryansky Forest, which forms the front line in the country’s restive northeast.
Hidden in the basement of an abandoned house 12 kilometers away, Mikhass immediately alerts the commander of a unit nestled in that part of the forest, who gives him crucial minutes to get his men into the trenches and save their lives.
On the defensive and short of ammunition and soldiers after two years of war, Ukrainian forces are increasingly turning to an old tactic – intelligence gleaned from radio intercepts – in a desperate bid to preserve their most vital assets.
The meticulous work is part of a broader effort to strengthen and refine the skills of electronic warfare so that soldiers can be warned before impending attacks and at the same time have the intelligence needed on the battlefield to make their attacks more deadly. To avoid enemy drone attacks, Signal interference is also on the rise.
After months of stalemate along the 1,000-kilometre front line, Ukraine expects ferocious attacks next year from a Russian foe determined to weaken its defenses to create a breakthrough. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said there will be no peace until Russia achieves its goals, which include recovering the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, which it illegally annexed in 2022.
The commander promoted last week to lead the Ukrainian army, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, has stressed the importance of electronic warfare, and the country’s Defense Ministry has increased spending on personnel and the technology behind it.
A Ukrainian soldier installs an electronic system to intercept the radio conversations of Russian forces in the Donetsk region. Photo: AP electronic warfare
Russia, which controls about a fifth of Ukraine, It has the advantage of a more developed domestic arms industry and uses conscription and coercion to recruit soldiers.
In Ukraine, ammunition shortages have forced brigades to use projectiles sparingly and only after identifying precise targets. The difficulty in mobilizing troops means Ukrainian commanders must further protect soldiers’ lives as they try to defend themselves from ferocious Russian attacks.
In this context, it has become increasingly necessary to improve surveillance, wiretapping and eavesdropping.
Several kilometers south of where Mikhass is located, in the Donetsk region’s town of Konstantinivka, the 93rd Brigade’s electronic warfare unit uses jammers to prevent drone attacks, the main cause of injuries among soldiers in the region.
The platoon commander is alert and watching a computer showing signals picked up by small antennas positioned near the front line. When a Russian Lancet attack drone approaches its area of operations, its screen lights up with activity.
The commander, known on the battlefield as Oleksandr, flips a switch to activate the jammer that interferes with the drone’s radar; It’s the equivalent of dazzling someone with a bright light to disorient them.
“It’s essential,” he says of his operation. “Many men die from drones.”
Radio operators like Mikhass work shifts 24 hours a day.
THE antennas you rely on to pick up Russian radio signals They are camouflaged and emerge from the trees of the forest not far from Kreminna, near the Russian positions. From a quiet command center in a nearby basement, Mikhass and other soldiers smoke cigarette after cigarette and listen through headphones.
A new, sophisticated signal-seeking antenna, similar to a carousel, uses triangulation to pinpoint where radio waves are coming from.
They compare what they hear with images obtained from reconnaissance drones and use detailed maps of their enemies’ locations to slowly piece together what it all means.
A Ukrainian soldier receives secret conversations from Russian forces on his computer in a war zone. Photo: AP They are part of a 50-man intelligence unit called the Cherkess Bunnies, a name inspired by Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, who advised warriors to feign weakness when you are strong.
“No one takes rabbits seriously, right?,” said Cherkess, the commander for whom his unit is named.
Radio intercepts reveal that the Kremlin is determined to control the entire Serebryansky Forest, which divides Lyman (controlled by Ukraine) from Kreminna (occupied by Russia). It is part of an attempt to reach Torske, a Donetsk town west of Kreminna from which Russia would be closest to recapturing the nearby business center of Lyman, which It would be a devastating setback for Ukraine and a disruption to their ability to move supplies to the front.
Deciphering coded orders
Cherkess and his men, most of whom are volunteers enlisted in the infantry, know that the stakes couldn’t be higher, especially as signs grow that support from the Western allies is less certain.
After listen to hours and hours of Russian communications every day, many of them involve troop rotations, artillery fire and drone reconnaissance, little by little they understand – with the help of a specialized computer program – what it all means.
“Cucumbers” are mortars, “carrots” are grenade launchersand the locations are communicated in a numeric code with a corresponding color. It took the unit months to decode these Russian orders.
The arrival of new combat equipment and ammunition – and, above all, infantry soldiers – indicates that a new attack is imminent.
“(A soldier) doesn’t care what kind of radar the Russians have, he needs information to know if there will be an attack tonight and who will come, if they will have tanks, if they will have armored vehicles or if it’s just infantry” , Cherkess said.
“And we need to understand how much time we have to prepare. A week? Two weeks? A month?”.
Advance information about enemy troop rotations is also useful for Ukrainian soldiers wishing to go on the offensive, he said. That’s when they can sue and get the maximum personnel loss.
The previous week, a Russian assault operation had been carried out against a nearby brigade. But the Ukrainian soldiers stationed there were ready to welcome them.
electronic surveillance
The importance of electronic surveillance cannot be underestimated, said Yaroslav Kalinin, general director of Infozahyst, a company under contract with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
Before the war, Infozahyst provided anti-wiretapping services in the offices of the president and prime minister. Once the war began, the company dedicated itself to helping the military by producing a versatile radio direction finding (radio direction finding) system, which is now in great demand.
According to Kalinin, the government recently doubled the contract with Infozahyst.
The development of surveillance capabilities is partly a recognition of the need to catch up with the Russians, who invested in this technology long before they invaded Ukraine.
Kalinin believes that better, smaller and easier to hide and move devices will ultimately give Ukraine an advantage.
The Russians know they are being listened to and regularly try to deceive the enemy with false information. It is up to Mikhass and the other radio operators to distinguish the signal from the noise.
“Their artillery helps us,” he explained. “They say where they will shoot and then we check where the bullets landed.”
The location where Mikhass recently heard about an impending attack – “38 orange” – is represented on a map by a small dot. And it’s surrounded by hundreds of other dots indicating the locations they’ve already decoded.
“We need a lot of time to discover these points,” he said.
And as Russia ramps up the pressure, time is running out.
Source: AP
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.