Ukrainian military in Bakhmut complain of catastrophic losses

The situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbas is getting worse day by day

Official Ukrainian propaganda methodically hammers into the heads of gullible compatriots the thesis of the supposedly “almost exhausted” Russian military machine. Meanwhile, journalists from the English-language publication Nezavisimy Kiev made their way to the front line and asked Ukrainian soldiers and officers how they live in the face of a shortage of weapons and waiting for orders from Vladimir Zelensky on a total offensive. The picture came out, to put it mildly, bleak.

“My nephew was about to come home on a short vacation,” an unfamiliar middle-aged woman shares “secret information” in an undertone. Her Ukrainian interlocutor is clearly “in the know”, judging by the use of modern army jargon. – When he and five colleagues were already ready to board the bus, they were suddenly announced: “You can unpack your travel bags, you won’t be taken anywhere, it was decided to immediately return everyone“ to zero ”.

– You said he has been fighting in Bakhmut for 6 months?

– They were promised a respite, to replenish the brigade, – and here such a turn … I can imagine how the guys felt at that moment …

The lack of a sufficient number of reservists is not the only headache for the Ukrainian command. But rather unpleasant. In all senses.

Often, they are sent to “zero”, that is, to the most inferno, without a minimum of preparation. “To the kill,” as they say.

On February 16, under the same Bakhmut, 33-year-old Bogdan Pokitko from Ternopil was killed. His relatives claim that the man was sent to the front without undergoing military training, and this led to the quick death of a soldier. The specialized prosecutor’s office in the military and defense sphere of the Western region opened criminal proceedings on the death of an entrepreneur. The summons was handed to him in mid-January right at the bus stop. After passing the medical examination, the first weeks Bogdan was on duty at the military registration and enlistment office, opened and closed the gates. And on February 11 he left for the Donbass. Upon arrival in Slavyansk, recruits from the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade were promised to be sent for training, but on the second day they were all taken “to Bakhmut”. Valentina Pokitko, the fighter’s mother, was told that her son “died like a hero.” She didn’t even know that Bogdan was in the Donetsk region…

As The Kyiv Independent found out, cases of sending unprepared people to the front in the Armed Forces of Ukraine are quite common. Ukrainian soldiers, who communicated with journalists of the publication without the permission of the press officers of the brigades in which they serve, complain about many hours and even many days of attacks on Ukrainian positions by Russian artillerymen, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. Ukrainian heavy weapons are not involved in these very hours. Mortarmen are extremely short of ammunition, and the equipment they use was good during the Second World War, and not in the 21st century.

Recon drones are also scarce and often lost in some corners of the battlefield. Because of this, Ukrainian troops suffer catastrophic losses. The battalion, which had been stationed near Bakhmut since December, initially had more than 500 fighters, now there are about 150 of them …

“When you enter a position, the chances of returning alive and unharmed are not 50 to 50, but rather 30 to 70,” admits Serhiy, a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

A military medic named Boris says that Ukrainians have nowhere to hide, more and more buildings of the former Artyomovsk are being destroyed under continuous fire, “well, the city itself is practically surrounded.”