Ukraine lacks troops to stop Russia international

Kurazov is another place name in the Ukrainian province of Donetsk, bordered by Russia. Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Chasiv Yar or Kuryazov are themselves municipalities that are being surrounded by the attacking troops from the north, south and east, making it more difficult for the Ukrainian army to defend itself, unless it has to avoid being isolated. Don’t have to step back. This has happened this year in Avdiivka or Vugledar. “We will probably soon see the same fate as Kurakhov, surrounded by the Russians,” warns Eugene Churbanov, deputy battalion intelligence commander of the 46th Airborne Brigade, a military veteran with the Ukrainian state’s highest military honor. Churbanov says the biggest problem for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Kurakhov is not Russian superiority or lack of weapons: above all, the steady Russian advances in recent months are due to the lack of soldiers in its regiments.

The soldiers of the four brigades defending Kurazov have agreed on the same diagnosis in the three days that EL Pace has traveled through this sector of the front: the future of the war is bleak for their interests because there are not enough replacements. “Why are we going backward? Because we don’t have rotation, we don’t rest, we are demoralized,” explains Shkoda, code name of an officer in the anti-drone unit of the 46th Brigade.

The soldier, who, like others in the war zone, was consulted last week, citing a growing problem of soldiers fleeing their positions. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office indicated this October that there were approximately 100,000 cases of desertion or desertion so far in the war. More than half, this 2024, which is equivalent to 10% of all armed forces personnel. “I had a friend, we used to call him, from England. He fought the entire war at Line Zero, in Robotine, Soldader, Kherson… He was exhausted, he could not take it anymore and the commanders did not give him rest. He left just like that a few days ago.”

Alexander, an officer of the 119th Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces (TRO), revealed that there was a block mutiny in Kurazovo in the 116th TRO Brigade, he refused to follow orders, and was transferred to Sumy, from The raid is directed at the Russian province of Kursk in Ukraine. In early October, there was also a case of 100 soldiers of the 123rd TRO Brigade abandoning their positions in Vugludar a few days before it was captured by the Russians. They did this to denounce that they were being tasked with suicide rescue without adequate training and weapons.

Superiority of three over one.

Havildar Churbanov, who was injured seven times in this war, says that according to the law he has the right to leave the army. However, he does not do so, because there is a shortage of men. He provides devastating information: he reveals that at present his men can spend three months at their posts without rest, without turning; A year ago, the maximum was one month. In the first year of the war, the original rotation was every four days.

According to the soldiers consulted, the average time spent by soldiers at Kurajov positions is 25 days. Bison, a fighter of the 119th Brigade, estimated that the Russians had infantry superiority three to one: “Thank God, they don’t have accurate information about how bad we are in some places.” Churbanov says the Russians are also “better equipped, better trained and adapted to this war than before.”

Dimson is the code name of a private infantryman who does not wish to reveal which brigade he serves in. He has just returned from a two-day leave. There was more to happen, but they told him to return immediately because the enemy had taken the position defended by his platoon and they had captured many of his comrades. Silently, he looks at photos of these companions on his cell phone, as if he expected the worst for them. He then shows a video that appeared on the Internet this Sunday in which a soldier from a civilian recruitment patrol in Zaporizhia appears to fire into the air to scare off a group of people who were trying to recruit a young man to join the army. Wanted to stop from. Force. “For every kid recruited this way, they lose 40 who might consider joining the ranks,” says Dimson.

Such videos have increased manifold since the new mobilization law came into force in May. There is no official data on those recruited, but Roman Kotsenko of the Ukrainian parliament’s defense committee told the British newspaper on October 3 many times The aim was to end 2024 with 200,000 new troops. United States intelligence sources specified in September wall street journal Ukraine lost 80,000 soldiers and another 400,000 wounded during the war. Most of the wounded recover and return to the front.

“There will be no people to fight”

The meeting with Shkoda takes place at an establishment in Ulakale, 10 kilometers from the front, where he buys food for the next few days in which he will remain on the front line. “The mobilization (of civilians) is going badly because people are scared,” Shkoda confirmed. “They see that they take you onto the street by force and they send you to the front with little training. “I don’t want anyone with me who isn’t motivated, because my life depends on it.” Dimson assured that his two captured comrades had no experience and had been at the front for only three days. This July the death on the Pokrovsk front of Matyagu Anton Samborsky, son of the Great Rabbi of Ukraine, made the news. Samborski was mobilized in May, received only a month of training and after three weeks of fighting, he was already dead.

“Soon there will be no people to fight.”

EL PAÍS also met in Ulcala with a press team from the Ministry of Defense that visits the regiments. The head of the mission, who asked to speak without giving his name, summarized the situation this way: “The problem is no longer weapons, the problem is people. Nobody wants to join the army. The brigades tell us that they cannot turn around, that they are tired. Soon there will be no people to fight.”

Another reason why rotation occurs is less, and that is the heavy presence of bomb drones which makes it difficult to move troops. The journey to Kurajov itself was proof of this. The invasion troops are located at the eastern end of the city and from there they attack the road that leads from liberated Ukraine to the city. The soldier driving the vehicle first connects the antenna of the radio-electronic device built into the SUV which can reduce the danger of the drone by interfering with its pilot’s signal. More and more vehicles, especially armored vehicles, carry these electronic warfare devices. Oleg, the soldier who went to Kurajov with this newspaper, says that the effectiveness is 50%. Without it, the chances of survival are minimal: this is demonstrated by a vehicle without this device, which was in the middle of the road, which was destroyed by a bomb drone some time ago.

Kurazov is now another ghost town, lifeless, beyond the armies hiding in the basement. The location awaits the Kremlin’s plans to destroy it with its artillery and aircraft before attacking it. The Ukrainian response could be to defend it in urban warfare or to abandon it, as happened at Avdiivka. Drone pilots of the 113th TRO Brigade and Shkoda agree that the Ukrainian commitment to waging war with drones leads to disadvantages in defense in urban areas: these unmanned vehicles are more difficult to handle between buildings than in open fields .

“If things don’t change too much, Russia will be unstoppable,” Churbanov explains in a calm and sad tone, especially tired, “If things don’t change too much, our grandchildren will also have to keep fighting.” For.”