User:SaintPaulOfTarsus/sandbox/Engagement at Bashtanka

On 1 March 2022, the sixth day of the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian War, a military engagement took place in and around the small city of Bashtanka in the Mykolaiv Oblast of Ukraine.

Events
Russian invading forces from Crimea had been moving through Kherson Oblast in the direction of Mykolaiv and Bashtanka.

On 1 March, the 190th Territorial Defense Battalion, stationed in Bashtanka, became aware of a large Russian column, multiple kilometers in length, moving towards the city from the direction of Snihurivka and Yavkyne. The battalion command, led by Serhii Doroshenko and Andrii Kondratiiev, decided to engage the column rather than retreating, despite only being armed with Kalashnikov rifles, hunting rifles, and grenades. Almost none of the men had any combat experience.

The Russian convoy split into two columns in order to enter the city from two sides. Fighting began around 13:30. A church on the outskirts of Bashtanka was hit with tank fire. Russian multiple launch rocket systems positioned on a runway, in the city garden, and near the village of Dobre began firing on the city. The first clash took place at a checkpoint in the outskirts, where three territorial defense fighters were killed. A Russian column broke through and entered the city, where they allegedly fired indiscriminately and killed civilians on the street. Civilian volunteers threw Molotov cocktails at the convoy.

Street fighting continued in the center of Bashtanka, where Russian vehicles were intermittently ambushed. A number of Russian soldiers were said to have abandoned their vehicles and fled in different directions. Eventually, the Ukrainian Air Force launched airstrikes against the column. Russian vehicles in the outskirts withdrew from the area. The Ukrainians managed to capture RPGs, several military vehicles, and two howitzers, which were later turned over to the 79th Air Assault Brigade.

Aftermath and significance
In the following days, Russian soldiers who had fled to the surrounding forests and the nearby village of Shliakhove were captured by Ukrainian fighters and handed over to the 79th Air Assault Brigade. The majority of those captured were residents of Crimea who had Ukrainian passports. By 2 March, 28 Russian soldiers had been captured.

Russian troops never returned to Bashtanka, though it was shelled indiscriminately throughout the month of March, which led to the death of some of its residents. By 22 March, Russian soldiers had left the entire Bashtanka raion.

The administration of Bashtanka credited the city's resistance with changing the course of the entire war. History professor Yurii Kotliar of the Petro Mohyla Black Sea State University suggested the Russian objective was to capture the city and go on the offensive into the Kirovohrad and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts.

A soldier of the 190th Battalion opined that had there been no resistance in Bashtanka, the city would have faced the same fate as Snihurivka, a nearby city where mass graves were discovered after it was recaptured by Ukrainian forces.

Sources vary on the number of Russian losses at Bashtanka. According to Kotliar, 800 vehicles were lost, though Mykolaiv Oblast Vitalii Kim expressed skepticism regarding this figure.