Hundreds of Ukrainian military personnel from the northeastern city of Kharkiv have been buried at a cemetery on its edge since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year. Joseph Sywenkyj for The Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Journal: 36 Hours in Bakhmut: One Unit’s Desperate Battle to Hold Back the Russians
A group of 16 draftees lost 11 who were killed or captured. Whether it was worth the cost depends on a widely anticipated offensive.
KOSTYANTYNIVKA, Ukraine—Pvt. Oleksiy Malkovskiy, an unemployed father of three, fired a rocket-propelled grenade for the first time in his life on the front lines of the battle for Bakhmut in February.
Russian troops were assaulting one of the apartment blocks that his group of 16 draftees, many of whom had been enlisted days earlier and given no training, had been assigned to defend.
Malkovskiy missed. The Russians fired their own RPG and hit the wall beside him, leaving him concussed. He ran from the building and hid in a vegetable patch, his ears buzzing. When he returned after sundown, the bodies of two of his comrades lay in the room.
Over the 36 hours he spent in brutal house-to-house combat in the eastern Ukrainian city, 11 of the 16 men from Malkovskiy’s group of draftees were either killed or captured, according to surviving soldiers and relatives of the missing.
Read more ....
Update: Ukraine Sent Poor, Untrained Men Into Bakhmut Meat Grinder to Save Better Forces for Counteroffensive (Antiwar.com)
WNU Editor: It was not only poor and untrained men who were sent into the Bakhmut meat grinder. A lot of professional and trained men were also sent in. A family friend was killed in Bakhmut. He has been involved in the war since the beginning, and he had a lot of training and combat experience. But in the end it did not help him at all.
Update #2: Col. Douglas Macgregor has a must read post on where this war is heading .... After Bakhmut: Russia turned Bakhmut into the graveyard of Ukrainian military power. What comes next? (American Conservative).
10 comments:
I'm smelling Russian propaganda again.
Of course there's going to be newbies, but I've seen footage of elite squads in Bakhmut too. So calm down your propaganda titties WNU.
The Wagnerites committed 80,000 troops to Bakhmut. Only 5,000 were able to retreat. Bakhmut is their graveyard clearly. There are no Russian reserves left to stop the coming offensive by motivated, trained and Ukrainisn supplied Army.
You got this guy ... WNU, who waxes poetical about Russian artillery.
Wherever Russia can muster artillery advantage, they are going to kill lots of Ukrainians or as irredentists and other megalomaniacs call them "little russians".
Heavily built up areas give you a better advantage usually when defending. Thus Bakhmut was defended.
Without Bakhmut Russian artillery would have ground an advance to Kramatorsk like it did at Severpdenoestsk.
WNU keeps telling is how big the Russian army is. Being big gives advantages. But it is a not all advantages. If you can stymy a big army, it falls apart of its own weight. No matter your size, whatever your size, you have to have an efficiency level or you decay and die. It is a law of the universe. Maybe the army has a disease outbreak like in medieval times. Maybe it is logistics. Whatever. A stopped army is expensive, dangerous and likely to implode.
Victories give an empire a shot in the arm. It gives them a new temporary lease on life. but the force of decay within the empire are still there and still exerting their influence.
Russia will fall.
You all are dreaming and, by the way, making nice excuses.
Two and three months ago some of you said this story was a lie. That the units of the territorial guard were all well trained and equipped and that stories of untrained individuals being pulled off the streets and sent directly into combat was conspiracy theory and Propaganda
Some of us tried to warn you, but no, you would not listen.
Now you freely admit it.
And now you say to defend your past beliefs.....
It is not so bad that Fortress Bakhmut fell...that is what you are saying. Now the Russian army is in tatters. Wagner retreated.
How many times do we need to hear this blather?
No, Wagner did not retreat , they pulled out after taking thier objective. Just like every unit does after a hard fought battle. You pull out, rest and refit. Normal crap.
The Russian army currently shows no real sign of falling apart any time soon.
No army is styming in this war, not the russians or Ukrainians. For the russians the dynamic of warfare has been bitter in many cases. But have they been forced to return to the 2014 borders? No. So they are not gaining right now. But they are not losing. Who controls Bakhmut RIGHT NOW. There is your answer.
This really does get tiresome because you all have an ideological bent and see everything from that murky window.
The editor is correct. If you look at economies of scale... the Ukies chances of winning this war are slim. Thier economy is trash, they have to totally rely on the west for weapons, their corruption is off the charts and weakens the already tough conditions of the war effort. They have had the equivalent of two full armies destroyed in the field and this one is now their third army deployed. Every man lost is one that cannot be replaced. Since Russia has a larger population, time is not on the ukrianinan side.... in a war of attrition. Put that all together and it does not look good for the home team.
The Ruskies, The ponderous bear/. They have a whole set of problems also. But the worrisome part for the Ukies and west is that the Russians have gone to full war production and by the Europeans own admission, the EU cannot keep up. The other worry for the west, is that necessity is the mother of invention. The russians are now, due to the destruction of war, required to improve thier equipment and tactics. This is slow (part of Russian problem). But see how many Ukie drones are now ineffective due to jamming? That is new. And not good.
Anyway I know I am talking to a wall.. You all dont listen. The best thing I can tell you is....we shall see. If the ukies can pull a rabbit out of thier hat for this next offensive , good for them.
But the main point is. ONCE AGAIN. WE ALL WERE TOLD that the ulkies were doing XXXXXX and many of you said that is a lie and propaganda...
And like I said back then wait and see.
What happens??? As always........patience is the forbearer of the Truth.
Be patient
Saving these hopeful delusions in my humour folder.
Truth= anything I want to be real.
Propaganda= anything I disagree with or any information that challenges my woke indoctrinated ideology.
11;21
Yes for the ideologue , this is how life is lived. And that is why the USA is in so much trouble.
Oh this post editor implying that Ukraine should do what russians did, fo bring the convicts in the front line
7:24
Is English your primary language and what is your level of education?
I certainly do not see the editor implying any such thing.
Or maybe....
You can read minds , like someone else we know.
world shame a stupid and corrupt president, acting in the greatest fraud and selfishness
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