The Ukrainian news portal Kyiv Independent is publishing testimonials from Ukrainian soldiers at the front in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, this Monday, showing they feel unprotected in the face of the spate of bombings and Russian attacks.
The digital publication claims to have collected testimonies “from more than a dozen Ukrainian soldiers” in one part of the battle front.
Soldiers say it is a “flesh shredder” war front because of the high number of casualties among Ukrainians and Russians. During their short trips to the town of Kostiantyinvka, Ukrainian infantrymen told the Kyiv Independent “Ukrainian battalions, poorly trained and unprepared, were thrown to the front line”.
The military told the news portal that they are “surviving as best they can,” using scarce support from armored vehicles, mortars, artillery pieces and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).
The same sources told the newspaper that they had “little tactical information” about Russian positions.
“We got no support”said a Ukrainian soldier who identified himself as Serhiy, who fights for Bakhumt and who was sitting in a small cafe in Krostiantynivka market, accompanied by a friend who also says his name is Serhiy.
The two men reported that Russian artillery, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers from Moscow often spent hours attacking Ukrainian positions without Ukrainian heavy weapons able to stop them.
According to the same publication, some Ukrainian soldiers complain about a lack of coordination and lack of information about the situation on the battle front, and also refer to the “shortage of ammunition”, indicating that they are “using weapons from the Second World War era” . World War”.
Drones, which are supposed to collect vital reconnaissance information, are also in short supply and a large number are being shot down in some parts “of the battlefield,” soldiers told the Kiev newspaper.
According to reports, logistical, coordination and equipment problems are causing “terrible casualties” among the Ukrainian armed forces.
“The battalion arrived in mid-December (…) between the different platoons we were 500″says Borys, a military doctor from the Odessa region fighting in the Bakhmut region.
“A month ago we were literally 150″says the same source to the news portal.
“If a soldier leaves his position, he doesn’t even have half the chance (’50/50′) of staying alive”says another soldier, indicating that the survival rate corresponds to a “ratio of 30 to 70”.
The report published this Monday has not yet been commented on by Ukrainian military commands in Kiev.
Earlier, the Ukrainian head of state, Volodymyr Zelensky, who daily refers to the military situation in the country, acknowledged the difficulties faced by the Ukrainian army in Bakhmut.
Bakhmut, a city that went by the names of Artemivsk or Artyomovsk in Soviet times, is an area of great strategic importance for the Russian Armed Forces, as it allows the establishment of a logistical support corridor in eastern Ukraine.
According to Moscow, the city is surrounded by fighters hired by the Wagner mercenary company from Russia, most of whom are prisoners who were in the Russian prison system.
Source: DN
