Soldiers returning from the Donbus front call it “hell.”
Putin’s troops have shelled eastern Ukraine since Vladimir Putin shifted his focus to predominantly Russian-speaking areas in May.
The Russian president wants him to be “liberated” after failing to take control of Kieu.
Many defenders on earth have lived to speak of the horrors they have witnessed, while others have succumbed to extreme fatigue, both physical and mental, and have shown symptoms of PTSD.
Lieutenant Volodimir Nazarenko, deputy commander of the Ukrainian National Guard’s Svoboda battalion, was with the army withdrawing from Sibelodnetsk at the behest of military leaders.
Russian tanks destroyed a possible defensive position in a month-long battle, said to be the largest on European soil since World War II.
Nazarenko said the city, which was home to more than 100,000 residents before the war, has been transformed into a “scorched wasteland.”
“They bombed us every day. I don’t want to lie,” he said. “But it was an ammunition barrel for all the buildings. It leveled the city in an orderly fashion.”
At the time, Severodonetsk was one of two Ukrainian-dominated cities in Luhansk Oblast, where pro-Russian separatists declared an unapproved republic eight years ago.
On June 24, when the withdrawal order was issued, the Ukrainians were surrounded by three sides.
“If any place on Earth was hell, it was Severodonetsk,” Artem Ruban, a soldier with the Nazarenko battalion, said from a relatively safe spot in Bakumut, 40 miles to the southwest.
“The inner strength of our boys allowed them to hold the city until the last moment.”
Some soldiers complained about the chaotic organization, flight, and mental problems caused by the relentless bombardment.
Others spoke of high morale, their fellow heroes, and their commitment to continue the fight. In fact, for many it was not an option.
rubán added: The task was to destroy the enemy, whatever it was.
His comments were made after Ukrainian troops were ordered to withdraw from Severodonetsk.
On Sunday, Russian troops also seized the last base in Luhansk Oblast and intensified their missile attacks on Donetsk.
However, both Nazarenko and Ruban expressed confidence in the recovery of all occupied territories by the Ukrainian army, arguing that morale remained high.
Other soldiers, most of whom had no combat experience before the invasion, shared a more pessimistic explanation.
Oleksiy, a member of the Ukrainian military who began the fight against Moscow-backed separatists in 2016, recently returned from the front with a terrible burden.
He said he was wounded on the battlefield in Zolote, a town that has been occupied by the Russians ever since.
“They show great pictures of the front lines, solidarity and the military on TV, but the reality is very different,” he said, saying the supply of more Western weapons would change the course of the war. . ..
Alexis claimed that his battalion lost 150 soldiers in the first three days of the battle, caused massive blood loss, and ran out of ammunition within a few weeks.
He added, “If you’re psychologically broken, your boss doesn’t care. If you have a working heart, if you have hands and feet, you should come back.”
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Source: Metro
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