"The easiest part of the surgery for me was taking worming pills. The hardest part was the short moments of sleep, during which I was constantly woken up by kicks because I was snoring. And we could not snore at all, lest we be noticed," – this is how scout Van Thorne describes LIGA.net one of the most daring DIU special operations: to destroy Russian Tu-22M3 bombers at the Soltsy airfield in the Novgorod region.

To do this, the Ukrainian scouts covered more than 600 kilometers on foot across Russia. Most of the way, they made their way through forest thickets and swamps. In some places, they hid from Russian aircraft and even made friends with packs of dogs.

"I don't know any such heroes. Neither in books, nor in American blockbusters – that's all I want to say to a person who voluntarily accepts such a challenge," say the authors of the book 2024 Kilometers, which is dedicated to this unique special operation.

LIGA.net read the book and talked to the DIU soldiers who destroyed the planes and their families. Here is what we learned about this operation and why it is unique.

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