紐時賞析／為面子或裡子？烏克蘭不惜血戰堅守小城鎮

Symbolism or Strategy? Ukraine Battles to Retain Small Gains.

面子或裡子？烏克蘭為小成果不惜血戰

Ukrainian soldiers spent hours ducking in trenches as artillery exploded around them, then dashed for the safety of an armored personnel carrier — only to be chased through the open rear ramp of the vehicle by an exploding drone.

隨著火砲在他們周圍爆炸，烏克蘭官兵躲在壕溝數小時，接著衝向一輛裝甲運兵車避難，結果卻被一架自殺無人機一路追到運兵車打開的後車門。

“All I could see were sparks in my eyes,” said one of the soldiers, a sergeant, recounting how the pursuing drone blew up, leaving him and his team wounded but somehow still alive. He asked to be identified only by his first name, Oleksandr, according to military protocol.

這群烏軍中的一名中士，回想追趕他們的無人機如何爆炸，讓他和同袍受傷卻僥倖生還的經過時說，「當時我能看到的只有火花」。根據軍事規約，他要求只透露自己名叫歐雷山大。

Fighting on the plain in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, where Oleksandr’s vehicle was hit earlier this year, has raged for 10 months now in two phases: first with Ukrainian forces on the offense, and now on defense, as Russia escalates attacks on the area where Ukraine gained ground in last summer’s counteroffensive.

歐雷山大的裝甲運兵車今年稍早在烏南札波羅熱州平原被擊中，當地戰鬥已持續10個月，分兩個階段：首先是烏軍進攻，隨著俄軍加強攻擊烏軍去年夏季反攻收復的區域，現在烏軍採守勢。

Military analysts have described Ukraine’s strategy as “hold, build and strike” — holding the line in the country’s southeast, replenishing its units with fresh troops and hitting back with long-range drones attacks on oil refineries and military logistics targets inside Russia.

分析家曾形容烏軍的策略是「守住、建立和打擊」，守住烏國東南部防線、為軍隊補充生力軍，並以遠距無人機反擊，攻擊俄羅斯境內煉油廠和軍事後勤目標。

Ukraine recaptured the village of Robotyne last summer, in the high-water mark of a counteroffensive that not only failed to achieve a breakthrough, but left the Russians in a strong enough position to start pushing back across the southern front.

烏軍去年夏季收復羅博蒂村，時值反攻全盛期。但這次反攻不僅未能突破，還讓俄軍維持足夠強大的態勢，在整個南部前線開始反擊。

Russian forces attacked the pocket around Robotyne and areas nearby nine times over the past day, the general staff headquarters said Tuesday. When the Ukrainians captured the village last year, they pierced a main Russian anti-tank defensive line; now the Russians are trying to push them back and fill in that gap.

烏克蘭總參謀部周二表示，俄軍過去一天攻擊羅博蒂村周圍和附近地區九次。烏軍去年收復該村落時，突破一道俄軍主要反戰車防線；現在俄軍正試圖反擊並填補這個缺口。

Like Bakhmut and Avdiivka, Robotyne, which had a prewar population of about 500 people, is now just ruins. Throughout the war, U.S. officials have repeatedly raised concerns that Ukraine was holding out too long in defending such places, committing soldiers and ammunition to cling to devastated towns with little strategic value.

就像巴赫姆特和阿夫迪夫卡，戰爭前人口約500人的羅博蒂村現在只剩廢墟。整個戰爭期間，美國官員一再提出疑慮，認為烏軍為了保衛這類地區堅持太久，投入太多兵力和彈藥堅守被摧毀且缺乏戰略價值的城鎮。

But for Ukraine, the area around Robotyne remains worth fighting for, at least for now.

但對烏克蘭而言，羅博蒂村周圍地區仍值得奮戰，至少目前是如此。

“At some point, symbolic becomes strategic,” Yurii Sak, a former adviser to the minister of defense, said of the fighting. Defending the gains of the offensive, he said, is “important for morale, it’s important for the support of the population, it’s important for the inner belief in our potential to win.”

烏國防部長前顧問薩克提及戰鬥時說，「有時候，象徵性質會變成戰略性質」。他說，守住成果「對士氣很重要、對民眾支持很重要，也對我們能獲勝的內在信念很重要」。

文／Andrew E. Kramer and Maria Varenikova 譯／羅方妤

說文解字看新聞

【張佑生】

烏克蘭與俄國作戰的窘態畢露，本文導言用了ducking，dashed，chased，外加兩次爆炸(explode)。Duck當動詞時很有畫面，就是迅速縮頭或壓低上半身，避免被發現或擊中。

美國已故總統雷根曾遭槍擊，在病床上打趣告訴妻子南西：Honey, I forgot to duck.說自己忘記低頭才沒躲開子彈。這字也有逃避責任的意思：The Opposition reckons the Health Secretary has ducked all the difficult decisions.

Duck是快閃，dash是快衝、拔腿狂奔，跟hurry和rush都是趕緊。Hurry是比通常的速度更快，可能是因為進度落後或遲到。Rush也是加快速度，指沒仔細考慮就行動。Dash是趕去某個地方，特別是因為某件重要或急迫的事情：I’ve got to dash to the shops to get some more milk.

Chase跟duck及dash一樣有急迫感，文中用被動語態，以指被追趕，不快點就小命不保。Chase也有追求、爭取的意思：There are too many schools chasing too few pupils.