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Ukrainian volunteer fighters in the east feel abandoned
Washington Post ^ | May 26, 2022 | Sudarsan Raghavan

Posted on 05/27/2022 3:09:05 AM PDT by Mount Athos

Stuck in their trenches, the Ukrainian volunteers lived off a potato per day as Russian forces pounded them with artillery and Grad rockets on a key eastern front line. Outnumbered, untrained and clutching only light weapons, the men prayed for the barrage to end.

After three months of war, this company of 120 men is down to 54 because of deaths, injuries and desertions.

Lapko and Khrus’s concerns were echoed recently by a platoon of the 115th Brigade 3rd Battalion, based nearby in the besieged city of Severodonetsk. In a video uploaded to Telegram on May 24, and confirmed as authentic by an aide to Haidai, volunteers said they will no longer fight because they lacked proper weapons, rear support and military leadership.

“We are being sent to certain death”

A similar video was filmed by members of the 115th Brigade 1st Battalion. “We are not alone like this, we are many.”

...They were handed AK-47 rifles and given training that lasted less than a half-hour.

A couple dozen of his men refused to fight, Lapko said, and they were imprisoned.

“We were told that we were going to be in the third line on defense,”

“Instead, we came to the front line.”

“It’s around four RPGs for 15 men,” Khrus said, shaking his head.

“And when the heavy weapons are against us, we don’t have anything to work with. We are helpless.”

“Many got shell shock.”

“On Ukrainian TV we see that there are no losses,” Lapko said. “There’s no truth.”

His battalion commander and team had moved to another town without informing him, he said, taking food, water and other supplies.

“They left us with no explanation,” Lapko said. “I think we were sent here to close a gap and no one cares if we live or die.”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: Comment #1 Removed by Moderator

To: Mount Athos

Sentences truncated to fit citation limit


2 posted on 05/27/2022 3:09:26 AM PDT by Mount Athos
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To: Mount Athos

Withdraw to better lines


3 posted on 05/27/2022 3:14:34 AM PDT by LeoWindhorse
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To: Mount Athos
After three months of war, this company of 120 men is down to 54 because of deaths, injuries and desertions.

It's shocking that Zelenskyy & $40bn US tax dollars haven't been able to hold these front line troops to together.

4 posted on 05/27/2022 3:16:54 AM PDT by JonPreston (Q: Never have so many, been so wrong, so often)
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To: LeoWindhorse

Leo I don’t the Severodonetsk troops can withdraw easily anymore, since the bridge to Lysychansk was blown 5 days ago


5 posted on 05/27/2022 3:24:05 AM PDT by Mount Athos
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To: Mount Athos

MSM belatedly tries to tell the truth, lest they look like total fools when the Donbass falls and thousands more surrender.


6 posted on 05/27/2022 3:30:51 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Mount Athos

They can’t retreat at this point, if they are in the open, they are targets. And even if they tried to retreat, it would have to be on foot. No vehicles. Not possible. Another Mariupol surrender is coming but from platoons and companies instead of en masse from the factory.


7 posted on 05/27/2022 3:33:55 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: JonPreston

[ Ukraine SITREP ] Day 91-92 (25-26 May) Summary - Ukraine air force reinforced; Lyman is now Krasny

DEFENSE POLITICS ASIA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGJoBGctXBI&ab_channel=DefensePoliticsAsia


8 posted on 05/27/2022 3:34:59 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

It’s a good day for the denazification effort, and thanks for the ‘tube.


9 posted on 05/27/2022 3:41:00 AM PDT by JonPreston (Q: Never have so many, been so wrong, so often)
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To: Mount Athos
How is our FReeper Keyboard Warriors Battalion doing over there.
10 posted on 05/27/2022 3:43:57 AM PDT by McGruff (Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*** things up - Barack Obama)
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To: McGruff; SpeedyInTexas

Speedy is still in Texas, and not in Severodonetsk, I believe.


11 posted on 05/27/2022 3:45:54 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: JonPreston

I’d very interested to know how many billions of dark money have also been wasted in Ukraine. For ten full weeks we’ve been lectured about the Russian paper bear being mauled by Ukraine. NATO outspends Russia 20-1 on weapons, the US has equaled total Russian military spending in 2021 in three months in Ukraine to buy into this open ended quagmire.


12 posted on 05/27/2022 4:00:20 AM PDT by hardspunned (former GOP globalist stooge)
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To: Mount Athos

I have read speculation is that in the end, Hungary will annex the trans Carpathia region, and Poland will take the Galicia region of western Ukraine. These are areas that Ukraine inherited by default when the USSR broke up.


13 posted on 05/27/2022 4:01:06 AM PDT by Not_Who_U_Think
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To: hardspunned

I’d like to know that also.


14 posted on 05/27/2022 4:05:06 AM PDT by JonPreston (Q: Never have so many, been so wrong, so often)
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To: Mount Athos

I guess the soldiers/fighters don’t understand that their lives are inconsequential. They’re just picayune tools to facilitate shoring up TPTB so Ukraine can continue to be the US Deep State’s money laundering cabal.


15 posted on 05/27/2022 4:09:26 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Jesus took my burden and left me with a song.)
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To: Mount Athos

They feel abandoned because they have been abandoned.


16 posted on 05/27/2022 7:10:55 AM PDT by frithguild (The warmth and goodness of Gaia is a nuclear reactor in the Earth's core that burns Thorium)
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To: LeoWindhorse
Withdraw to better lines

Elensky's orders are hold all lines and no retreat. Sound familiar?

17 posted on 05/27/2022 7:12:48 AM PDT by frithguild (The warmth and goodness of Gaia is a nuclear reactor in the Earth's core that burns Thorium)
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To: McGruff

... our FReeper Keyboard Warriors Battalion ...
_____________________________
No one has spammed the keywords and this article has been posted for 16 hrs + counting. Maybe they are busy packing their gear?

In related news, I got called a *Biden-lover* for asserting the war is over & Ukraine lost. The post itself was foam-flecked.

Most of them couldn’t afford bus fare, so it’s moot.


18 posted on 05/27/2022 7:12:33 PM PDT by reformedliberal (Make yourself less available.)
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