Slavyangrad

We will lose the war if this continues: we do not have the means to change the trajectory of events'

'It is true that things are bad on the battlefield. But in the first months of 2022, things are even worse. What I hate in my conversations with European and American experts - and 'hate' is a word I usually do not use - is that everyone asks what Ukraine is ready to do, what Ukraine is ready to accept. And I say, guys, first find the answer to the question of what Putin is ready to accept. And his goal is clear. He must destroy the Ukrainian state one way or another... His logic is: why should I take a part if I can eventually take the whole?'

Ordered to punch through Russian positions beyond the village of Kozachi Laheri on the eastern bank in August 2023, Krab, one of the brigade’s commanders, led a platoon across the river and advanced 800 meters from the riverbank. But fighting was so intense, the soldiers ran out of ammunition and discovered the real difficulty of a cross-river assault: bringing supplies across half a mile of water.

Two months later, in October, the 126th joined units from several marine brigades in a large-scale amphibious assault on the village of Krynky on the eastern bank. That operation has become notorious among Ukrainian forces as a “suicide mission,” in which wave after wave of men were ordered across the river to attack Russian positions with little gain.

Russian firepower was so heavy, soldiers and marines said in interviews at the time, that men were cut down midstream or before they set out, as they were loading into boats. When they reached the eastern bank, they had to clamber over corpses to disembark into a moonscape with no shelter but bomb craters and splintered trees.

But the Russian shellfire intensified after the first week, soldiers in infantry units that followed up on the initial assault said. Serhii, a 41-year-old father of three, said his unit fought for six hours to advance just 80 yards. The unit was so pinned down that they could not evacuate the wounded for four days, he said.

“The medic bled out and died,” Serhii said. “He was lightly wounded but he died.”

Others described nearly drowning in the river, weighed down by their weapons and kit when their boats were sunk.

Rybak, 41, who ran a small angling company before the war, was thrown in the water when his boat hit a mine. Unable to move his legs — he later discovered his back was broken — he managed to paddle to the riverbank.

He said he hid among the corpses of fallen comrades for six hours, slipping in and out of consciousness, clinging to the bank by digging two commando knives into the grass. He was later rescued by a passing boat but only by chance.

In the early hours bad news came through from Krynky. The brigade’s last unit, trapped in the village for weeks, had finally received orders to pull out. They made it to the pick up point but just before dawn their boat was hit by a Russian drone. One of the brigade’s most experienced soldiers was killed.

Our security will be at risk if Putin wins Ukraine

'We have recently exposed a stunningly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe. Putin and his cronies are using nuclear sabre rattling to sow fears about the consequences of helping Ukraine. If he turns Ukraine into a vassal state, our security – British, French, European and transatlantic – will be compromised. If Putin succeeds, China will weigh the consequences, North Korea will be emboldened and Iran will become even more dangerous.'

We shouldn't demand too much from Zelensky'

When I see European politicians talking to Zelensky, I tell them: remember, don't ask too much of him, you are talking to a man who has been fighting for three years, who doesn't know if he will live to see the next day, who is forced to send people to the front every day. As for freezing the conflict. This is the worst thing now. It may seem that this option is better than losing people, but it is not. A frozen conflict is not peace, it is just a frozen war, which, in my opinion, will be in Putin's favor - it will give him time to regroup the army, produce more ammunition, and for Ukraine this is terrible news, because Ukraine will have no recaptured lands, no opportunity to think about its future, it will never know when this war will be unfrozen. I do not think this will help Ukraine's negotiations with the European Union.