Ukrainian forces are in “a mess” as Vladimir Putin has thrown thousands of men into key towns and cities which comes Kyiv are preparing for what will be a hard winter.
Ukraine’s political and military senior officials have shown signs of disagreement in recent weeks, and the Mayor of KyivVitali Klitschko has hit out President Volodymyr Zelensky for acting like an “autocrat.”
Former Ukrainian General Staff Chief Viktor Muzhenko warned this month that Ukrainian forces “needs a pause” in the fighting because fighting is taking place on a “small scale.”
Muzhenko said that Ukrainian troops “cannot advance anywhere, everything that is happening is on such a small scale that it clearly won’t lead neither to victory nor to the liberation of Ukrainian territory.”
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Speaking to the Kyiv Independent, Yurii Nikolov, head of the investigative media project Nashi Hroshi said there are divisions between Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and Zelensky.
Nikolov said, “I think only now have the country’s top officials started to realize the mess that Ukraine is in at the moment.
“Of course, it is better late than never but at face value, it doesn’t look good.”
Also speaking to the publication, a senior artillery commander posted near Bakhmut said that large numbers of Russian troops are advancing near the town.
He said, “Neither fortified positions nor the second line are being prepared properly, nor are the villages that in the near future could be engulfed in active hostilities.
“When the Russians storm the trenches, our guys have nowhere to retreat and there are no positions to take; they have to dig trenches under machine gun and sniper fire, never mind artillery shelling.”
Ukrainian soldiers have spoken out of their experiences on the frontline in the east of Ukraine over the “hell” they are going through.
Speaking to the BBC a soldier based near to the village of Krynky said, “I got out after getting concussed from a mine, but one of my colleagues didn’t make it – all that was left of him was his helmet.
“I feel like I escaped from hell, but the guys who replaced us last time got into even more hell than us.
“But the next rotation is due. My time to cross the river again is soon.”
Another soldier said: “Several brigades were supposed to be posted here, not individual companies – we just don’t have enough men.
“There are a lot of young guys among us. We need people, but trained people, not the green ones we have there now. There are guys who had spent just three weeks in training, and only managed to shoot a few times.
“It’s a total nightmare. A year ago, I wouldn’t have said that, but now, sorry, I’m fed up.
“Everyone who wanted to volunteer for war came a long time ago – it’s too hard now to tempt people with money.
“Now we’re getting those who didn’t manage to escape the draft. You’ll laugh at this, but some of our marines can’t even swim.”
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