美国国家公共电台 NPR--Ukrainian soldiers are picking up new skills — even from YouTube — to fight Russia

Ukrainian soldiers are picking up new skills — even from YouTube — to fight Russia

Transcript¹

MYKOLAIV, Ukraine — On the second day of the war with Russia, Anatoliy Nikitin and Stas Volovyk, two Ukrainian army reservists, were ordered to deliver NLAW anti-tank missiles to fellow soldiers in the suburbs north of Kyiv. Then, as they stood exposed on a highway, Nikitin, who goes by the battle nickname Concrete, says they received new orders.

"A guy on the radio said, 'There are two Russian tanks coming at you. Try to hit one and livestream it!,'' recalls Nikitin, sitting on a park bench in the southern city of Mykolaiv, as artillery² rumbles³ in the distance.

There was one problem: neither soldier had ever fired an NLAW. So, as the tanks approached, they hid amongst some trees and looked up a YouTube video on how to do so. They took their positions, prepared the missiles.

"Then the commander says, 'Oh, it's ours! It's ours!'" recalls Volovyk, who goes by the nickname Raptor. "So, we did not fire. It was a really close call."

Fighting the war requires new skills now

As the war has changed over the months, Ukrainian fighters like Volovyk and Nikitin have had to adapt and learn new skills.

In the first month, soldiers used shoulder-launched missiles and hit-and-run tactics to defend Kyiv. These days, they are using drones and artillery as part of a high-tech⁴ trench⁵ war in the farm fields of the country's' south.

Nikitin and Volovyk have fought in both environments and describe their on-the-job training as a mix of terror, adventure and black comedy. The two men offer an unvarnished view of the fighting and say the first days of the war were filled with confusion.

"It was total chaos," recalls Nikitin, who is 40, wears a salt-and-pepper beard and heads a construction company. "It's lucky for us that the Russians were more chaotic⁶ than us."

Volovyk is a 33-year-old software engineer who learned English by playing video games. He says Russian tactics and decision-making have improved during the war, but he found some of their early actions perplexing. For instance, the Russians deployed⁷ riot police who headed toward Kyiv, only to be wiped out.

"We see how they advance, we see how they fight and we were like, 'Okay, is this their best or are they just mocking us?'" recalls Volovyk, who wears a camouflage⁸ cap with the message "Don't Worry, Be Ready."

"Then we realized that they're just dumb. There are a lot of them, but they're dumb."

From digging trenches⁹ to operating drones

The Russians began to retreat from the Kyiv suburbs in late March. After this, the two men followed orders and headed south to fight a very different kind of war. They left behind the protection of suburban¹⁰ buildings and forests outside the capital for sweeping¹¹ farm fields with little cover. They started at the bottom: working the trenches.

"It sucks," says Volovyk. "You dig. You dig. That's the only thing you can do, because this is an artillery war and unless you dig, you're pretty much dead."

In trench warfare¹², infantry¹³ rarely see the enemy or have a chance to shoot at them. Volovyk says the bombardment can take a psychological toll¹⁴.

"You're constantly shelled and you just don't know if you're going to survive," he says. "So you just trust that this isn't your day, just not yet."

After two weeks, the men were offered new jobs doing reconnaissance. It's dangerous work that involves getting close to enemy lines and trying to evade¹⁵ detection. But the men leapt at the opportunity — anything to get out of the trenches.

They now operate drones and serve as the eyes of the artillery, helping¹⁶ to guide fire on everything from Russian tanks to ammunition¹⁷ depots¹⁸ in the Kherson region.

Drone operators are targets themselves. Once the Russians spot a drone, they try to calculate the general area where the operators might be hiding and methodically hit it with artillery fire.

Nikitin and Volovyk say they prefer military-grade surveillance drones to commercial ones. The military drones have secure data transfer and are much harder for the Russians to jam.

Their recon team, known as the "Fireflies," has its own Instagram account and YouTube channel. Their videos show them launching a drone from a parched¹⁹ field and setting up in an abandoned farmhouse²⁰. Then they help guide a shell that just misses a Russian armored personnel carrier, enveloping²¹ it in a cloud of smoke. It's a reminder²² that, even with all the advanced technology, it's still hard to hit a moving target.

The soldiers have had some heart-stopping moments. Nikitin recalls traveling with a team of engineers when they came across a Russian soldier in a field.

"He looks at me, I look at him and he just jumps into the bushes," recalls Nikitin. He then told the engineers to go shoot the Russian and any of his fellow soldiers.

They didn't like that idea.

"No! No! We are engineers," Nikitin recalls them saying.

Before the Russian could rally his fellow soldiers, Nikitin and the engineers took off.

Nikitin and Volovyk joined the army reserve six years ago, after the Russians invaded Crimea. Nikitin says they weren't prophets, but they knew Russia would try to take the rest of Ukraine. Here down south, their goal is to liberate²³ Kherson, the regional capital.

After eight months of war, they are hoping for a little break and then a return to the fight.

As Nikitin says: "We are not going anywhere."

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

3 rumbles   

隆隆声，辘辘声( rumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• If I hear any rumbles I'll let you know. 我要是听到什么风声就告诉你。
• Three blocks away train rumbles by. 三个街区以外，火车隆隆驶过。

4 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

5 trench   

n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕

参考例句：

• The soldiers recaptured their trench.兵士夺回了战壕。
• The troops received orders to trench the outpost.部队接到命令在前哨周围筑壕加强防卫。

6 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

7 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

8 camouflage   

n./v.掩饰，伪装

参考例句：

• The white fur of the polar bear is a natural camouflage.北极熊身上的白色的浓密软毛是一种天然的伪装。
• The animal's markings provide effective camouflage.这种动物身上的斑纹是很有效的伪装。

9 trenches   

深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕

参考例句：

• life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
• The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

10 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

11 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

12 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

13 infantry   

n.[总称]步兵(部队)

参考例句：

• The infantry were equipped with flame throwers.步兵都装备有喷火器。
• We have less infantry than the enemy.我们的步兵比敌人少。

14 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

15 evade   

vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避

参考例句：

• He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
• You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人，你怎么能对这个问题不置可否？

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

17 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

18 depots   

仓库( depot的名词复数 )； 火车站； 车库； 军需库

参考例句：

• Public transportation termini and depots are important infrastructures for a city. 公交场站设施是城市重要的基础设施。
• In the coastal cities are equipped with after-sales service and depots. 在各沿海城市均设有服务部及售后维修站。

19 parched   

adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干

参考例句：

• Hot winds parched the crops.热风使庄稼干透了。
• The land in this region is rather dry and parched.这片土地十分干燥。

20 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

21 enveloping   

v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. 那眼睛总是死死盯着你，那声音总是紧紧围着你。 来自英汉文学
• The only barrier was a mosquito net, enveloping the entire bed. 唯一的障碍是那顶蚊帐罩住整个床。 来自辞典例句

22 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

23 liberate   

v.解放，使获得自由，释出，放出；vt.解放，使获自由

参考例句：

• They did their best to liberate slaves.他们尽最大能力去解放奴隶。
• This will liberate him from economic worry.这将消除他经济上的忧虑。