Still in Ukrainian hands, Bakhmout is about to be surrounded by Russian troops. Is it the fault of an ill-prepared and under-equipped Ukrainian army? In the Kyiv Independentseveral soldiers who fought on this front recount – disillusioned – the battle that is being played out.
“We should evacuate because if we don’t leave then in the next few weeks it’s going to be very bad”, concedes Oleksandr, a soldier in an infantry regiment. For several days, the attacks of the army are more and more constant, and the Ukrainians suffer. The fault with a lack of reinforcement, for the soldiers. “We can be shot at for three hours, we wait for reinforcements, but they don’t arrive”affirms Serhiy, in spite of the exhortations to hold on behalf of the command.
War in Ukraine: if Bakhmout falls into Russian hands…
This lack of reinforcement is linked to a lack of ammunition, another fighter always says to Kyiv Independent. He explains receiving “ten 120 millimeter shells a day”, an amount needed to “a minute of work“, barely. The soldier also criticizes the old age of the equipment, which dates from the Second World War. “A miracle” that the mortars still work, he assures.
The soldiers also complain of a disorganized army: lack of equipment, communication, and specialists on this subject, and a lack of training explain the losses suffered by the Ukrainian army. “In the battalion that arrived in mid-December, we were 500. A month ago we were 150”, says Borys, a war doctor. “We had been promised that we would not be sent to the front line immediately. Two weeks of training and they send you here”, deplores Serhiy again. This is why the positions do not hold, according to him. “Our people are not protected”denounces another soldier.
