'The Element Of Surprise': How Elite Ukrainian Troops In Precious Blackhawk Helicopters Fought A Desperate Rearguard Action in Pokrovsk

The Oct. 29 operation aimed to hold open an escape route for Pokrovsk's defeated garrison

Tymur Special Unit photo

On Oct. 29, a pair of American-made Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters operated by the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate rotored low over the industrial western outskirts of the fortress city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.

Passing over a Russian ambush drone idling on the ground presumably near the O0525 highway threading into Pokrovsk from the west, the helicopters dropped off 22 commandos from the Tymur Special Unit.

The commandos sprinted toward the nearby campus of Pokrovsk’s Geological Research Directorate. Ukrainian drones and at least one captured Russian tank provided covering fire.

No one outside of the Ukrainian armed forces and special operations and intelligence agencies knew what the mission was, at first.

More than a week later, it’s becoming clearer. The commandos were part of a wider operation meant to hold open an escape route for Ukrainian troops struggling to hold back a growing number of Russian infiltrators in Pokrovsk and neighboring Myrnohrad.

It was a risky op. Helicopters rarely appear directly over the front line of Russia’s 45-month wider war on Ukraine for a good reason. They are extremely vulnerable to air defenses and attack drones.

But their rarity was an advantage in this case, as the Russians clearly weren’t expecting a pair of Blackhawks—out of just three the Ukrainian intelligence directorate operates—to appear over one of the most dangerous stretches of the 700-mile front line. “The helicopters provided the element of surprise,” the pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team explained.