Ukraine's river raiders defy mosquito-infested bogs and the fear of being drowned by their body armor to harass Russian invaders

• Ukrainian soldiers have been carrying out covert night raids across the Dnipro river.
• The raids aim to gain territory and establish a foothold on the eastern side of the river.

Soldiers from Ukraine's 197th Bataillon, part of the 124th Territorial Defense Brigade, have been carrying out night raids using speed boats in hit-and-run attacks into Russian-held parts of Kherson Oblast every week, crossing the Dnipro river, the Kyiv Independent reported.

In an interview with the Ukrainian outlet, a unit commander explained the hazards of fighting a war in the river delta, made up of islets and marshes, at the southern end of the 600-mile frontline.

The Dnipro is the largest river in Ukraine, dividing the country into east and west alongs its 1,300 mile length. For about 150 miles in the south, the river forms the dividing line between Ukrainian and Russian territory.

The aim of the raids is to attack Russian strongholds and gain territory on the eastern side of the river, where Russian forces have been entrenched since November after they were driven out of the city of Kherson last autmun, the report said.

"We attack them where they least expect us," the military unit commander told the outlet.

"We come in small groups to fuck them up"

Small five-man units steal across the river at night and then have an exhausting march across mosquito-infested bogs, laden with weapons and kit before the fighting even begins.

"Marshes, fucking marshes everywhere," the unit commander told the Kyiv Independent.

Their small boats also can betray them. They are prone to breaking down in the middle of the river. They are easily capsized by sharp maneuver, throwing the soldiers wearing bulletproof vests weighing 26 pounds into the cold currents of the Dnipro, the commander told the outlet.

While the risks are high, so are the rewards. "We come in small groups to fuck them up," the unit told the outlet.

This week, Ukrainian special forces smashed through Russian defenses in a daring raid across the Dnipro, reports said.

Russian military bloggers, who've provided valuable information about front-line battles, described how seven boats, each carrying six to seven soldiers, landed in a village just east of Kherson city, taking Russian forces by surprise, the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.

The military bloggers' posts said the Ukrainians killed or captured dozens of Russians.

There have also been reports of Ukrainian troops making ground near the village of Kozachi Laheri, 17 miles northeast of Kherson.

The Kyiv Independent said a source in Ukraine's Armed Forces informed the outlet that the team had exited from the east bank after the raid.

While Ukraine is making slow but steady progress with the probing attacks along the Dnipro banks, US think tank the Institute for the Study of War warned that "an effective Russian mechanized counterattack could threaten" Ukraine's advanced positions.

But it added that it was "unclear if Russian forces possess the mechanized reserves necessary to do so."

The key to the fighting in the area will be whether or not Ukraine can establish a bridgehead, as it would help Ukraine in its efforts to establish a foothold on the eastern side of the bank — which would also likely force Russia to move troops to the region, the Kyiv Independent notes.

The unit commander told the outlet the river raiders Ukraine need more powerful boats.

"Yes, it would change the game," he said. "The Russians have boats that come with 82-mm mortars."