This morning, the sky is blocked, the ceiling very low. Russian drones will not fly over the trenches of this last outpost of the border guards in northeastern Ukraine.
Wearing a balaclava revealing only his eyes, the man with the monocular proudly displays his Anglo-Swedish NLAW anti-tank missile launcher.
“Our primary objective is to prevent a (new) invasion. But if it happens again in this region, then we will be ready to stop the enemy at the border, to prevent him from sinking into our country” as the February 24, assures AFP the 33-year-old border guard, who does not wish to give his name.
The Senkivka border crossing is very close. It forms a Y: Belarus to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south.
It was from there that on the first day of the invasion by the forces of Moscow, the 90th Russian armored division rushed like butter into this part of Ukrainian territory.
The Russians went to the gates of Cherniguiv, the capital of the eponymous region, which they were never able to take, repelled by fierce Ukrainian resistance, while the city was regularly bombarded.
At the beginning of April, the invader withdrew by going up towards the North, by where it had arrived, before refocusing its offensive on the east and the south of Ukraine.
– “Growing threat” –
Since then, the Ukrainians have been watching like milk on fire the area of Senkivka and the nearly 900 km of border with its Belarusian neighbor, whose territory served as a rear base for Russian soldiers.
On October 20, the Ukrainian army was alarmed by the “increasing threat” of a new Russian offensive from this northern neighbor, an ally of Moscow.
Belarus had just announced the deployment on its territory of a new joint force with Russia, comprising up to 9,000 Russian soldiers and around 170 tanks.
“If you want peace, prepare for war,” said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, accusing Ukraine of preparing “attacks” against his country. The Minsk army has so far not taken part in the fighting in Ukraine.
On the Ukrainian border guard camp, built after the Russian withdrawal in early April, “Lynx”, by its code name, estimates the risk of a new Russian offensive at “50/50”.
“The probability of an attack will always be high here, near the border, with such a neighbor,” said the 30-year-old, machine gun slung over his shoulder, standing in a solid and deep covered trench.
“There is constant (Russian) artillery fire here (…) At one point it was quieter, but with the onset of autumn the enemy became more active,” says the border guard.
But now “there are more positions (of Ukrainian forces), and more fortifications, everything is more serious now (…) We are considering all the options to avoid (the repetition of the) scenario” of February 24, assures- he.
30 km south of the village of Senkivka, Gorodnia (21,000 inhabitants before the war), was among the first Ukrainian localities to see the Russians arrive, on the morning of the invasion.
– “Brotherly nations” –
Its mayor, Andrïi Bogdan hopes that “the situation will not repeat itself”, even if “this threat exists”, he told AFP, referring to the Russian troops present in Belarus.
But according to him, “the situation is completely different” compared to February, when the territory of his commune was “almost without protection”.
“We are counting on our border guards, our armed forces and all the defense forces. Today, they are here, ready to fight”, reassures the mayor.
The man is proud and moved to show AFP journalists a short film shot when the Russian forces arrived in the city. We see in particular residents, Ukrainian flags in hand, facing armored vehicles to prevent them from advancing. The Russians will ultimately stay out of town during their occupation of the area.
At her grocery store at a main crossroads in Gorodnia, Svitlana says she doesn’t believe “Belarus can attack us”.
“We live on the border, we are fraternal nations. I have a brother in Belarus, and a sister in Moscow… We talk to each other constantly. At first, even my sister didn’t believe this happened. But they understand and support us”, explains the fifty-year-old.
“I want it all to end, as soon as possible,” she says.
