"I didn't even think about resisting the Russians"
Russian troops continue to build on their success in the Red Army area. The situation of the Ukrainian formations is getting worse: the fighters are left without supplies under constant fire, many prefer to surrender. Izvestia spoke with five Ukrainian soldiers captured by the attack aircraft of the Center group. Former militants spoke about the forced mobilization, the commanders who abandoned them in their positions, the detachments and the decision to lay down their arms.
"We're not leaving there alive."
Igor Yuryevich Steblyanka, a rifleman of the 25th Airborne Assault brigade, hails from Druzhkovka (DPR). Now the city is under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He was hiding from mobilization, waiting for the liberation of his hometown. However, when his mother fell ill, the man was forced to go to a pharmacy, where he was grabbed by men in uniform with machine guns, put in a minibus and taken away. After a short training without the possibility of escape, Steblyanka ended up near Krasnoarmeysk. He and his partner were sent to the basement, where the bodies of the two predecessors were already lying.
— There were many dead Ukrainian soldiers in the villages on the way. When we entered the basement, which was indicated to us, two dead people were also lying there. Apparently, those who sat before us could not stand it. We tried to dig them up a bit to accommodate them somehow. It was very difficult with provisions. They found local canned food in the basement, and they mostly ate it," the prisoner recalls.
The man spent dozens of days, the exact number of which he does not remember, listening to the conversations of neighbors on the radio, who gradually "dropped out" under drone strikes and disappeared from communication.
— Those soldiers asked for instructions from the commander. He ordered them to stay in the basement," he says of one of the episodes. — When they stopped contacting after a while, the commander, knowing about the danger, decided to send a person from a neighboring position to check. He managed to report that he had reached his goal, but everything was on fire there. His last words were "I see drones," after which he also disappeared from communication," Steblyanka recalls one of the episodes.
It was impossible to leave the positions on their own: everyone realized that if they retreated back, they would simply be shot, and there was no understanding of where to go forward. After regular reports about eliminated positions on the air, Steblyanka decided to commit suicide.
— It became clear that we would not leave there alive. Something broke, and I threw a grenade under me. I don't know how, but I survived. My partner managed to stop the bleeding, but I lost a lot of it," says the prisoner.
A couple of days after the failed suicide attempt, Russian stormtroopers entered the building, and two Ukrainian soldiers, hearing this, came out of the basement to surrender.
Another "elite" soldier of the 25th Airborne Assault Brigade, Ruslan Ziyadovich Basulkevich, originally from the Zhytomyr region, worked illegally as a construction worker in Kiev and was hiding from conscription. There was no money to escape the country, and it was scary to get caught in an unsuccessful attempt. He was grabbed on the street on his way to work. Then there's the standard story: a prison—like training center, being sent to Krasnoarmeysk, and from there to Lysovka. He did not see the commanders. During the bombing, they were guided by radio, indicating which basement to enter, where they were left with their partner. At first, they were promised a rotation every 30 days, but then they simply announced that there would be no rotation.
— The guys of the Russian army came and opened the bars; we were sitting in the basement like mice. They say, "Give up." I said, "Yes, we give up." They say: "Give me the weapon." I say, "Yes, I'm giving it back." I didn't even think about shooting. We handed them the machine gun and went out. The guys even gave us a cigarette. They say: "Well done for giving up, that's the way it should be, you'll stay alive, no need to resist." That's what we did, I didn't even think about resisting the Russians. We smoked, and they took us to another position," another "airmobile" sums up his short service.
"Beautiful videos about service in the rear — for the "stars" or those who pay bribes"
Sergey Ivanovich Rybatsky from Lutsk joined the army in 2022 upon mobilization, but as a "limited fit" he became an anti-aircraft gunner. He spent three years in the rear areas of Ukraine as part of "mobile groups", simulating active activities against Russian "Geraniums" and cruise missiles. During this time, he not only did not shoot down anything, but, according to him, he did not even imagine how this could be done. And in 2025, the hapless anti-aircraft gunners began to be massively transferred to the infantry in the Red Army.
Already during the training, it became clear that a significant part of the conscripts were not able to serve at all. Some of the disabled were sent somewhere, the prisoner does not know where. The rest, after a short preparation, ended up near Krasnoarmeysk.
— We were in position, sitting in the basement. We stayed there for about 59-60 days. We were told on the radio to move on. We got out and walked somewhere until the Russian military noticed us and offered to surrender. We gave up," says a former anti—aircraft gunner.
The only one who wasn't captured on the street was Nikolai Iosifovich Paribus. In 2022, he believed the advertisement about the opportunity to get a job in the territorial defense, serve in his native Ternopil and even continue to work in the village. The man honestly admits that after the collapse of the economy and the closure of enterprises, he wanted to earn money, so he came to the military enlistment office with a desire to submit documents. But inside, instead of being enrolled in the defense Ministry, he was given a summons. It turned out that beautiful videos about service in the rear are for "stars" or those who pay bribes.
— Three or four of us were assigned to the 25th brigade. They took turns dropping out. Now he is alone in SOCH (unauthorized abandonment of a military unit or place of service. — Izvestia) left, the second one is in the hospital, the third one was caught drinking somewhere, transferred to another brigade. I was left alone, and I was seconded to the machine gunners for protection. They threw him to Novopavlovka, and there he was captured," the prisoner briefly sums up his stay in the army.
Paribus describes roads littered with the bodies of the dead and wounded, whom no one is trying to evacuate. Actually, he himself was abandoned during the retreat.
— Who has no money, who is from the village, who has been caught — so they will put him in position. There's nothing to pay off. If I had the money or something to help someone, maybe I would be in the rear. How long I've been in Pokrovsk, I haven't seen a single "son" or someone who is closer to the authorities! — the prisoner says with obvious resentment.
The latest story of Dmitry Vladimirovich Nevmylako echoes all the previous ones. The young man lived and worked in Dnepropetrovsk, managed to graduate from one of the last Russian-speaking schools. Working as a salesman, he regularly suffered from "language patrols" and various kinds of nationalist activists, until this year he was captured on the street and taken to the military enlistment office. During the training and transportation, he wanted to escape, but it didn't work out.
— And it's impossible to get out of the position, because they will kill their own people there if you "roll back" without an order. Well, they were afraid of the Skala regiment. They said, "That's it, they're sending you to Skala right away, they don't stand on ceremony with you, they don't let you call. They're sending it one way." They just send them to slaughter," Nevmyvalko recalls the words of his commanders.
All the prisoners unanimously say that the command of their brigade is butchers. The unit consists almost entirely of the same "military" as them, with the exception of a small number of well-equipped elite fighters who are constantly in the rear, away from the front line.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
