Over the past week, the Ukrainian defense has taken over some areas.
Many of them have been occupied by Russian forces for months.
Now the inhabitants of the reconquered cities tell of the chaotic escape of the Russians.
– If they came to fight, if they came to build this “new Russia”, why didn’t they stay to fight in Balaklija?
This is what Oleksandr Kryvosheja tells the American newspaper New York Times during a press tour of the reconquered areas. The trip was organized by the Ukrainian defense forces.
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Kryvosheja lives in the small town of Balaklija in the Kharkiv region. Since March, the town has been occupied by Russian forces. Last week it was taken over by the Ukrainians.
Left it all behind
He says the pro-Russian forces left the area quickly. He says he heard a Russian soldier yelling at a superior on the radio. “You left us behind, you went out,” the soldier is said to have shouted at his commander as he was loading an armored car.
LEFT BEHIND: Crates of weapons and ammunition remain in the remains of a Russian position in Balaklija. Photo: Juan Barreto / AFP / NTB
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Several civilians in the city say the Russians fled for their lives and left the city in any vehicle they could find as Russian defenses in the area fell.
Weapons, equipment, personal effects and documents remain in many places.
MINES: The roads outside the city are mined. Photo: Shutterstock / NTB
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One resident says Russian uniform jackets were left hanging on fences after soldiers changed into civilian clothes to escape the city.
Jailed at the police station
Russian forces used the local police station as their headquarters. According to the New York Times, Russian uniforms were still hanging out there to dry and the floor is said to be covered with letters and drawings that soldiers received from children in Russia to motivate them to keep fighting.
They also used the police station as a prison, residents told Reuters news agency.
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One of those who claim to have been imprisoned by the Russians is 32-year-old Artem Larsjenko. He says Russian thugs ransacked his apartment for weapons and found a photo of his brother wearing a Ukrainian uniform.
He told Reuters he spent 46 days in a small cell at the police station with six others.
He claims he was tortured
– He could have prevented the invasion
He also claims that at one point the Russians gave him electric shocks from a generator to try to get him to tell where other former soldiers were in the city.
– There was an aggregate there. The faster it went, the greater the tension. They said “if you let go of the strings, you’re done”. Then they started asking questions. They said I was lying, and then they increased the speed of the generator and the voltage went up, adds Artem BBC.
Artem’s claims have not been independently verified. Russia denies committing war crimes in Ukraine.
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Artem says they had hoods pulled over their heads and taken to the bathroom twice a day. They were also given tasteless porridge as their only form of food.
– In the middle was soup, if the soldiers didn’t eat it. It was something of a celebration, Artem tells Reuters.
Progress made
It is not only in Balaklija that Ukraine has made progress in recent days.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskii visited Izium to thank the soldiers.
While he was in the city, the Ukrainian flag was hoisted over the burnt town hall.
Much of the city lie in ruins. The apartment buildings are blackened by the fire and full of holes from the bullet shots. One of them has collapsed, and there is an open hole and piles of rubble where the building once stood.
Intelligence: Weapons stocks are dwindling
– It is shocking to see, but not for me, because it is the same thing we saw in Butsja, the first areas that were occupied; they destroy buildings, they kill people, Zelenskyy said.
– No fighting spirit
One witness describes the Russian soldiers as “stupid”, “young” and “almost children”.
They must have rushed out of town when the defenses fell.
