Ukraine’s defence ministry has fired a top commander after photos emerged of a group of emaciated soldiers who have been left on the frontline for months without proper food and water.
The scandal erupted after the wife of one of the soldiers, Anastasiia Silchuk, posted the images on social media. The four men appeared to be pale and visibly malnourished, with prominent ribcages and thin arms.
The soldiers had spent eight months defending a shrinking bulge of territory on the left bank of the Oskil River, near the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, their relatives said. Supplies of food and medicines could only be flown in by drone.
“When the lads arrived at the frontlines, they weighed over 80–90kg. But now they weigh around 50kg,” Silchuk posted. After one delivery, she said, no more food turned up for 10 days. The soldiers were forced to drink rainwater and melt snow to survive.
“The longest they went without food was 17 days. They weren’t listened to on the radio, or perhaps no one wanted to listen to them. My husband shouted and begged, saying there was no food and water,” she said, adding that the problem was bigger than just one case.
Having a tendency to always read sentences in halves. I went straight into clicking the article, I was shocked at how very little remains on the bones of those men at was very disgusted at how Russia is torturing its prisoners.
I started reading the article from the bottom. and that testimony of the woman who said that since the news went public, her husband wrote wrote to her reassuring her that they have started receiving more food, this confused me cause since when did Ukrainian prisoners in Russia get to write back to their families.
I went up the article, and that’s when I truly was shocked to discover that these men were not uks prisoners in Russia but Ukrainian combatants in the front line who haven’t eaten for 17 days. I can’t even imagine going for 5 days without food let alone 17 days. and that this is all done to them by their own commanders forcing them to defend slivers of land with zero regard to their condition. contrast that with the hundred of thousands of young Ukrainian men who fled the country because they had the means to bribe to escape. I don’t blame those who are doing their best to dodge the draft in such an unfair regime.
I wonder why Ukraine can’t easily get supplies to the frontline.
Could there possibly be a larger imperialist neighbour trying to kill them???
No! It’s the people who don’t want their country invaded who are wrong!
There’s more to the story than that if you read more of it. Russia was intercepting their methods to feed the men. They are also trying to be very cautious of giving away position
Which is not to excuse the situation, but nothing is straight bad and straight good. War is shit. And furthermore I wouldn’t call this a ‘fix’.
The men are still uncertain that their food line will not jsut get interrupted by Russia again. So even they are aware this isn’t a ‘fix’.
It’s just PR.
The fix would be if the war ended. And even then it’s a very very Far cry from all the damage that has already been done to call that a fix.
Really? Ukrainian army is so unbelievably corrupt, as long as you can’t cough up +2000€ to bribe the officer you will just get sent to the slaughterhouse to get murdered bybsome drone, all for nothing.
Ukraine is seeing record numbers of desertion for a good reason, pretty much every house is probably hiding someone at this point. But I guess we’re all supposed to cheer and clap like a bunch of hungry seals.
I think you accidentially wrote Ukraine when bringing up this point about Russia?