“I don’t know if I’ll get out of this or not, but at least to honor the memory of those who died like meat here because of certain individuals.” A contract soldier of the Russian Armed Forces recorded a video about the situation during the attack on Volchansk - out of 100 people, 12 survive

Contract soldier of the Russian Armed Forces Anton Andreev from the 5th company of the 1009th regiment told ASTRA about the operation of the Russian army to attack the Ukrainian Volchansk. According to him, out of his company of 100 people, only 12 remained.

The officers initially said that his company would be located on the border of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, but they were sent to Volchansk. But before the offensive, even before taking one of the strong points, some of the fighters were killed by artillery fire.

“The operation (capture of Volchansk) began at the wrong time. They started driving forward and forward. The mortars hit, and people are sent there. During the first night, half the company immediately died. Most of them are three hundred, thank God. Two hundred was also enough,” says the Russian soldier.

According to Andreev, the officers sent the soldiers to Volchansk lightly - only with bulletproof vests and machine guns. On the first night in the city, they managed to capture one of the streets, but then large-scale losses began - fresh groups from training units were unable to pass two houses, as they were suppressed by machine guns and finished off by drones. There was only one person left in one of the groups.

“You walk through the street, everything seems to be fine, but then you get caught up in a massacre - under machine guns, especially drones - they take out so many trains! And the command on the radio shouts “forward, forward!” You can't leave. When there are 5-10 people left from all groups, maybe they will let us retreat, but then it’s already half of the “300,” Andreev describes the storming of the streets in Volchansk.

With his video, the fighter would like to honor the memory of those “who died like meat here because of certain individuals. If we die here, we want to take revenge on those who are to blame.”

“They just chop us up and that’s it. They are sent under machine guns, under drones in daylight, complete meat. And just “forward and forward.” So I don’t know how I’ll wind my way, I won’t stay three or two hundred. Well, I understand that our leadership is given an order, but those who sit in Moscow are fucked,” says Andreev.

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[–] CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Can anyone from Ukraine confirm whats the situation like? How are you guys holding? Is there any hope for ending this war in favourable result?

[–] intelisense@lemm.ee 32 points 5 months ago

If anyone there has time to mess about on lemmy, I sincerely hope they won't share operational information.

[–] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 19 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I am not from Ukraine so maybe you don't want my input, but:

Wikipedia's map shows a very good up-to-date overview of the high level
This channel I find to give good tactical updates from the Ukrainian perspective
Metaculus seems to think that by far the most likely outcome is a continuation of the stalemate for a while, followed by some type of partition of the country. I won't say it's possible to predict the future but their predictions are the most reasonable-to-put-faith-in that I know of.

[–] JayTreeman@fedia.io 3 points 5 months ago

I've been using the ISW map which is very similar to the Wikipedia one. I never thought to look up the map on Wikipedia. I think a lot of people forget that a country is just a collection of people. Killing them off isn't a way to save the country

[–] OwlPaste@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Ukrainian high command reports this as stabilised but difficult. Which means its all fucked (as high command always tries a more positive outlook). But reportedly there are more Ukrainians than orcs 2:1 so they should be doing better in terms of holding.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 19 points 5 months ago (1 children)

By most accounts, Ukrainians have significantly lower casualties than russia across the war, and especially when defending. The issue is Russia doesn't give a shit and will keep throwing meat assaults to wear Ukraine down.

[–] OwlPaste@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

Significantly lower are still casualties, even taking the alleged 8:1 ratios that were touted at various specific localised fights, you are looking at 63k Ukrainian causalities minimum (and practically you are looking at much much more).

However the difference is that russia generates 1mil conscripts per year, so they are really not bothered, but Ukrainian command is reporting issues recruiting, by the time any high command starts to shout, the situation is far more dire then reported.

Lets keep a level head and not underestimate the enemy.

[–] FlowVoid@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

If you want ground-level impressions, you might find this blog pretty interesting.

The following are a series of social media interactions with an American serving in a volunteer, unpaid capacity on the front line in Ukraine.

Q. Who are the other team members? A. The team consists of five individuals: Chris (American, team leader) UV (American) Carlos (Colombian) Ian (British) Antin (Ukrainian)

There’s been 3-4 other team members that have come and gone, and at times a drone operator has been temporarily attached.

Q. How does the team operate? A. The team typically receives a mission order and then goes into 1-2 days of planning. The mission can last up to two weeks, but is typically just over a week in length. The team has been pulled out early at least once when Russian forces boxed them in and left them with no room to maneuver.

Usually UV will return from a mission, rest and eat, and then start recording his thoughts in a long DM. He and I talk about it, and then he will usually talk to several other people as a means of unwinding. All of this interaction goes into the blog.

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 months ago

Try r/tjournal_refugees. Am russian and I follow this sub for there are a lot of confirmed donations takers and actual soldiers from UAF. They woldn't probably tell you the recent information that can be used by the enemy, but something in general - sure.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com 7 points 5 months ago

So every time there is a 1/8 chance of survival?

Hmm, I wonder if the pay and the food is worth it... \s

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago

I’d be more than happy to honor the vatnik mercs with some ligma