Ukrainian battalion’s soldiers recall desperate run to safety

Washington Post ^ | February 18, 2015 | Karoun Demirijian

[C19fan]

When the order to retreat came over the radio Wednesday, most of the Ukrainian troops under siege in Debaltseve abandoned their heavy weapons, blew up their ammunition, and then fled in convoys of trucks as pro-Russian forces shot at them along the way.

But for Ilya Andrushko, one of about 30 members of Ukraine’s Lviv battalion, the only way to escape was on foot.

“We didn’t have a chance to think about the order when it came,” said Andrushko, 33. “We ran through the fields and the forests on foot, for about five kilometers. Then we just hitchhiked in whatever military vehicles would pick us up.”

[C19fan]

Those soldiers were lucky to get out of the salient. at least the Ukrainians were able to keep the escape route open.

[Always A Marine]

Salient is a very generous description for a pocket that is surrounded. The DNR offered safe passage to UAF forces who left their heavy weapons in place, but I agree with you that these were lucky to escape the “cauldron” alive.

[mac_truck]

Hmm...that’s not the way President Poroshenko described it.