Zelenogorsk Pravda
"Truth in Service of the Nation"
Senior Defense Correspondent Svetlana Golikova Reports on the Winter Campaign's Final, Decisive Battle
Zelenogorsk — In the frozen pre-dawn darkness of February 28, four women huddled in a basement in Kabanino. Two of them were local agents who had risked everything to report on separatist movements. Two were innocents, swept up in the same net. For days, they had heard the screams of their fellow prisoners echo through the village. One of the women—young, unnamed in official reports—had been tortured so severely that when soldiers finally reached her, the signs of what she endured were unmistakable.
Four days later, two of those women are alive. Two are not.
And a village that controls the major east-west highway of Chernarus is back in government hands.
Zelenogorsk Pravda has obtained the classified after-action report for Operation KABANINO (OP2602-27-2), the final major engagement of the winter campaign. It is a document of brutal efficiency and moral clarity—a story of how a devastating defeat at Rogovo was transformed, through patience, precision, and courage, into a victory that may shape the spring.
THE DEFEAT THAT PRECEDED THE VICTORY
To understand Kabanino, one must first understand Rogovo.
On February 24, four days before the counterattack, 2nd Battalion of the Chernarus 4th Separate Light Mountain Rifle Brigade engaged separatist forces in a meeting engagement at the village of Rogovo. The intent was straightforward: stop enemy encroachment before spring.
Instead, the separatists threw "every available vehicle they had" at government forces. The attack was massive, overwhelming, and ultimately forced a retreat.
The damage was severe. According to the after-action report, it would take 2nd Battalion "a minimum of a week to prepare for a counterattack."
Brigade Commander Colonel Alexey Lushnikov faced a choice: launch an immediate, angry response to avenge the defeat, or wait, consolidate, and strike properly.
He chose to wait.
"He scotched the idea of an immediate counterattack," the report states flatly. Instead, Lushnikov appealed to Corps Commander Major General Yuri Stytskovsky for reinforcements—specifically, 1st Battalion of the Chernarus 19th Separate Mechanized Cavalry Regiment. The request was approved.
The delay bought time for something equally critical: intelligence preparation.
THE INTELLIGENCE PICTURE
What emerged from agent reports, electronic intercepts, and drone overflights was a complete picture of the enemy's dispositions.
Kabanino, it turned out, was not merely occupied. It was reinforced. Following the Rogovo success, separatist commanders had poured armor, infantry, and artillery into the village, recognizing its strategic value astride the east-west highway that connects both halves of Chernarus.
But the most chilling intelligence came from local friendly agents. Four civilians had been taken prisoner—two of them agents, two innocent. And then came the reports that changed the nature of the mission.
"Local residents heard screaming from one of the prisoners," the report notes. Agents suspected torture.
The rescue of those prisoners was never designated the highest priority by battalion command staff. But it became, in the words of one officer who was there, "a task that had to be completed."
THE PLAN
The operation that unfolded in the early hours of February 28 was a model of combined arms coordination.
The task force assembled south of Kabanino included eight T-55 tanks with desant infantry elements, plus four additional T-55s for troop transport and reinforcement. A 122mm rocket artillery battery was placed under the command of Corps Counterbattery Commander Colonel Evgeny Biyatov. Four drones were made available for target acquisition and battle damage assessment.
The plan was methodical:
Southeast Axis: 2nd and 3rd Squads, dismounted, would penetrate the enemy defensive cordon with four tanks in support.
Southwest Axis: 4th Squad would advance on the church, with transport vehicles maneuvering west to overwatch the main road.
Northern Axis: Command Squad would conduct penetration operations to locate and eliminate the civilian criminal command operatives.
Western Overwatch: Two T-55s would position to observe both the highway and the open terrain to the northwest.
But before any of that could happen, the enemy's artillery had to die.
THE COUNTERBATTLE
In the darkness, drones located enemy artillery positions. The 122mm rocket battery went to work. By the time the ground assault began, separatist guns had been neutralized.
"The counterbattery fire enabled ground maneuver," the report states. It is a clinical description of what was, in reality, the difference between life and death for the infantry who would soon move into the village.
THE ASSAULT
What followed was a coordinated penetration from multiple axes.
On the southeast approach, 2nd and 3rd Squads sliced through the enemy cordon, tanks providing direct fire support. On the southwest, 4th Squad pushed toward the church. Transport vehicles maneuvered west, establishing overwatch positions that would prove decisive in the hours to come.
Command Squad, moving north, encountered resistance. The firefight was brief but intense—sufficient, however, for them to reach their objective. Two civilian criminal command operatives were located and eliminated.
And then they found the basement.
THE PRISONERS
The details in the after-action report are spare, clinical, devastating.
"Task Force Commander located the civilians being held prisoner," it reads. "Two female prisoners were advised they were being evacuated south to Scout 1 (BRDM) for return to base. Two of the civilian prisoners had been killed. One young female showed signs of having been severely tortured."
The other prisoners eventually found their way to the rendezvous point. They were evacuated.
The screams the agents had heard—the screams that had filtered through the village and reached friendly lines—had been real. Two women did not survive. One did, bearing the physical evidence of what had been done to her.
"She was barely conscious when we found her," one soldier involved in the rescue later told this reporter, his voice carefully controlled. "But she was alive. She is alive."
THE TANK GUNFIGHT
Even as the prisoners were being evacuated, the battle was not over.
The two T-55s on western overwatch had been watching the highway. When enemy vehicles attempted to respond to the assault, the tanks engaged.
What followed was described in the report as a "tank-versus-tank gunfight" lasting approximately ten minutes. When it was over, one T-55 from 4th Squad and one from Command Squad had been destroyed. But at least four enemy tanks were confirmed destroyed by friendly armor, with additional vehicles damaged or destroyed.
"The enemy ceased counterattack attempts," the report notes. "Clear loss of will to contest Kabanino."
THE ACCOUNTING
The final casualty assessment is remarkable for its asymmetry.
Friendly losses: Two T-55 tanks destroyed. Infantry losses described as "light."
Enemy losses: At minimum, four tanks destroyed, plus additional armored vehicles damaged or destroyed. Infantry casualties described as "severe." Artillery assets neutralized during the counterbattery phase. Total losses described by participating units as "catastrophic"—sufficient, in the judgment of intelligence staff, to cause "considerable delay" in future separatist operations.
Civilian casualties: Two killed, one tortured but rescued, two rescued unharmed.
'THE MORAL IMPERATIVE OF OUR MISSION'
In his formal comments appended to the after-action report, Corps Commander Major General Yuri Stytskovsky wrote words that are likely to be quoted in command schools for years to come:
"The Kabanino counterattack demonstrates that with proper preparation, combined arms coordination, and intelligence integration, our forces can defeat separatist formations decisively while preserving combat power. Colonel Lushnikov's judgment in delaying the counterattack—despite political pressure—reflects mature command understanding and should be recognized.
"The rescue of tortured civilians reminds us of the nature of our enemy and the moral imperative of our mission.
"The winter campaign concludes with Kabanino as its final, successful operation. We enter spring with momentum."
WHAT COMES NEXT
The report includes a series of recommendations, some immediate, some for the longer term:
Maintain pressure on retreating enemy forces with reconnaissance elements.
Establish a permanent checkpoint on the east-west highway to prevent re-infiltration.
Formalize drone-artillery coordination procedures at brigade level.
Expand counterbattery capabilities.
Document enemy atrocities for war crimes prosecution.
And perhaps most importantly: "Preserve momentum through spring with reconstituted armored forces."
The question now is whether that momentum can be sustained. The separatists have been dealt a catastrophic blow at Kabanino. But they have been dealt blows before, and they have returned.
For the women who survived the basement in Kabanino—for the two who did not—the victory is already complete. They are free, or they are dead, and both are preferable to what they endured.
For the rest of Chernarus, the battle for Kabanino is a sign of what is possible when patience, intelligence, and courage are combined.
The winter campaign is over. Spring is coming.
And the highway is ours.
Contact Svetlana Golikova at s.golikova@zelenogorsk-pravda.chernarus
Editor's Note: Some operational details have been withheld or altered at the request of Chernarus Coastal Operations Group. The names of certain personnel and rescued civilians have been omitted to protect operational security and individual privacy.
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