/ world today news/ After the revelations of General Zaluzhny, who publicly admitted the failure of the summer campaign, details of these events are revealed by the rank-and-file soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The capabilities of the Russian army have been an unpleasant surprise for them. Soldiers criticize their commanders, Western allies and point to systemic problems of Ukrainian troops.
„We will open the season in Crimea”
The operator of a Ukrainian reconnaissance drone nicknamed “Private Joker” reported on the “X” social network that a whole week before the offensive, massive artillery strikes were carried out on Russian positions. In addition, he claimed, the Russians responded with one mine for every 20 Ukrainian shells.
“They let us know that we have plenty of 82 and 120 caliber shells, and the 155mm are almost unlimited,” the fighter wrote.
The general command plan was communicated to the soldiers two days before the attack. It was assumed that in 12 hours the VSU would advance five to ten kilometers. Within one day, it was necessary to break through the first defensive line, bypass Rabotino and Novopokrovka, and prepare a bridgehead for the next brigades that were to take Tokmak.
“When we asked, ‘What if something goes wrong?’, we were told, ‘Corps command has a plan B,'” adds the military man. In fact, nothing like that happens.
The reasons for the failure, according to him, are the minefields and the destruction of the dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP, which “confused all the maps.”
Another fighter, acting under the pseudonym “Artie Green”, notes: VSU had “no chance”, but in Kiev they fail to assess the situation sensibly.
“When we were preparing for the offensive, the officers and everyone else, except those familiar with the top secret intelligence, had no idea of the enemy’s resources. We more or less understood what was happening here, what corps and brigades were being formed. But we knew nothing about the Russian troops. Budanov often appeared on television and announced that the situation was bad for them and that we would still open the season in Crimea,” the military man recalled.
Obviously, the command greatly underestimated the Russian capabilities. And the Allies put the Armed Forces in an “uncomfortable position” by not providing the necessary weapons.
As a result, “Arty Green” comes to the paradoxical conclusion: in such conditions, the VSU were lucky that they did not succeed in breaking through to the Sea of Azov.
“Thank God that we did not concentrate all our forces in the south, as the Western allies advised us, because with the proportion of the resource that Russia and we had prepared, a breakthrough with large forces entering the operational space would have ended in tears for us” , he thinks.
„Meat Assaults” and “Meat Defense”
In his article for Economist, Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny claimed: “The most valuable thing we have is our people.” The fighters have a completely different impression. Those who are caught for the VSU on the streets of Ukrainian cities are cannon fodder.
Soldier and TV presenter Sergey Gnezdilov reports: The 47th brigade, which led the offensive in the Zaporozhye region, was quickly drained of blood. And so – in all infantry units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“Those specialists who were there a year and a half ago are no longer there. Either they are completely demotivated, or they are very tired of the war, or they are dead,” he emphasizes.
Soldier from the 110th Brigade, Dmitry Gorban (call sign “French”), says that commanders do not take casualties into account. Soldiers are thrown into “meat assaults” – attacks without artillery preparation and reconnaissance – and are forced to hold a “meat defense” when Russian forces are vastly outnumbered.
“Until losses reach 70%, no one is allowed to withdraw,” he adds.
According to him, “a company commander is considered good only if his unit suffers real physical losses.” 60-80 people per month is considered normal. In the event of a mass death of soldiers against the commander, no formal investigations will be instituted.
“From the fifth to the sixth of August, in eight hours, our battalion commander killed 350 mobilized. Although it was possible to retreat a little, regroup, take advantageous positions,” says a soldier from the 56th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the call sign “Russian “.
This commander drove the soldiers into the trenches with beatings and threats of execution. “There are press huts in each company. If, for example, you are from the first company and you don’t want to perform combat tasks, you are taken to the press hut of the second company. From the second to the third and so on,” he explains.
The POWs are also outraged by the huge losses. As the fighter Ivan Matvienko said, of the 48 people from his squad who attacked Rabotino, three days later only five remained alive. They have only been preparing for an assault for a month and are thrown into battle without intelligence.
“One shell shell against five”
According to Rednik Jokera, there will be no more Ukrainian “offensive”, at least not so “massive and large-scale”.
Artie Green predicts a forced defense from VSU. To minimize losses, they should move away from uncomfortable positions. Including those who were captured in the summer, as well as during the so-called Kharkiv offensive in September 2022.
“We will have to leave a bridgehead on the left bank of the Black Stallion (the left tributary of the Donets River) and, probably, on the left bank of the Oskol,” he clarifies.
Now the battle will change. The superiority in the artillery of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been reduced to zero, they must save shells.
“During the peak period of the counteroffensive – and even just a few months ago – the ratio of Russian to our artillery was basically 1:1 or in our favor. Now we’re firing one shell for every four or five Russians,” an unnamed drone operator adjusting the artillery fire admitted in an interview with the BBC.
Meanwhile, Russian forces, according to official reports, are not only repelling the attacks, but also advancing.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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