Captured AFU fighter told of poor battle planning by commanders

Commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) plan combat operations poorly and do not explain tasks to soldiers, which causes them to suffer heavy losses. This was revealed by captured AFU serviceman Maksym Voloshyn on February 6 in the footage provided by the Russian Defense Ministry.

Voloshin said that after mobilization he was trained for only a week and stressed that it was a very short period of time. During his service, the military man left the unit unauthorized and hid for two or three months. He went to Dnipropetrovsk region, where he was caught by the staff of the territorial manning center (TCC, the analog of the military recruitment office in Ukraine). The man was then sent back to the line of contact and assigned to a reserve battalion.

"We were brought in, literally in an hour we were issued a BC (combat kit. - Ed.). Some man came in, explained, showed on his phone the street, <where> we should stand," Voloshin recalled.

The Ukrainian military did not receive any further explanations on the combat task. Once in position, they immediately came under fire from the Russian Armed Forces (AF), and one of the AFU fighters was killed on the spot. An hour later, the command ordered them to move down the street, and during their attempts to do so, all the fellow soldiers surrounding Voloshin were killed. He himself left the position, fled to the river and hid all night in the reeds, and in the morning he went to surrender to the fighters of the Russian army.

The Ukrainian shared that 80% of men in his country do not want to participate in hostilities, but they were left with no choice. Citizens are either mobilized or imprisoned for evading service, from where they are then sent to the front anyway, and in harsher conditions than in a normal draft.

Running in place: why the new brigades of the AFU are disintegrating

The command complains of "bussification" and desertions

Earlier, on January 31, captured servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Oleksandr Mohylnyy and Oleksandr Indyuk said that the command ignores the injuries of Ukrainian soldiers. In particular, Mohylnyy received a shrapnel wound in his leg and his hospitalization was constantly postponed. The military man received medical care only from Russian doctors after his capture. Turkey could not be evacuated for 10 days with a broken arm, and he was treated well in captivity.

On February 3, Oleg Danilov, captured by the AFU, said that he was forcibly mobilized despite his health problems. At the same time, the command told the Ukrainian that he would simply be on duty at the position for two hours. On the fourth day of participation in the fighting, Danylov was seriously wounded and was treated in captivity. The Ukrainian has fully recovered and is very grateful to the Russian medics.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the worsening situation in the region.