“It absolutely does not justify the situation that occurred, but communication exists. The recently appointed colonel Taras Maksimov spoke with the families. After the information was published, there was also another delivery (of supplies). Believe me, everything is being done to correct this situation and ensure logistics. But it is extremely difficult,” commented Nadija Zamryhová, spokeswoman for the brigade, for Žytť after the case broke.
The General Staff has already announced an internal investigation against the dismissed commanders.
Months without rotation
The case also reached the military ombudsman Oľha Rešetylova. She said in an interview that similar situations are often the result of premature decisions on the withdrawal of soldiers or their rotation. However, according to her, similar extremes, when soldiers starve for a long time, are rather rare. She noted that in the year and a half that she has been in office, this was the second complaint, which related to a similarly critical failure of logistics on some section of the front.
“The previous one came to me last year, by the way, from the same section,” she pointed out. Then his wife sent her a photo of one of the exhausted soldiers. In this case, Rešetylovová intervened and in the end one of the brigades helped to unblock the soldiers in the position. They delivered water and food to the soldiers and, according to the ombudsman, sent them to recuperate a week later.
“Logistics are usually controlled by the commanders. I have seen friends (soldiers) pack sushi, shashlik or birthday cake into the supplies,” she said, adding that if she sees remote positions on the map or learns that soldiers have been somewhere for a long time, she always asks how often supplies are delivered to that position. According to the ombudsman, the situation with logistics is generally stable, but it is worse with a long stay in positions. In Ukraine, there are cases of soldiers in trenches and bunkers. The formal order of the commander-in-chief limits the stay at the position to a maximum of 15 days.
“It’s a dead standard that no one follows, which consequently leads to the fact that there are no restrictions. Some commanders don’t even feel responsible for the fact that their half-encircled soldiers sit in bunkers and cellars for a year or longer,” pointed out Rešetylovová.
At the same time, she pointed out an important psychological point of view – the longer a soldier is in the trench, the more indifferent he becomes. After forty days, according to her, it happens that a person no longer cares whether he survives or not and sinks into complete apathy.
“Every commander should take this information into account. Anything that takes more than 40 days cannot be effective,” she added.
Other wives also spoke up
Although the ombudsman said that the case of starving soldiers is rather an isolated matter, some see it differently. Wives of other soldiers from other brigades also spoke up and described that the Ukrainian defenders had to drink rainwater in other sections of the front as well.
The husband of Ľubova Lebedyková serves in the 108th brigade near Huľajpol in the Zaporizhia region. According to her, the man has been on the posts for 70 days, and when he gets connected, he sends her photos of them collecting rainwater in a pot. She also drew attention to the fact that soldiers are forced to eat spoiled food.
The website subsequently brought the testimony of a soldier who served with Lebedyk’s man and who was evacuated from his positions after he was wounded. According to his words, they were sent to the positions in February with the words that they would spend 15 days there. Two weeks ended up being two months because there was no one to replace the soldiers. In mid-March, they started to run out of food.
“When we ran out of dry packs and cans, they told us they didn’t have drivers or cars,” he said, adding that eventually he and the men he served with found themselves in a situation where three had to share one can.
On the other hand, some women described that although their husbands have serious health problems, they are unable to deliver their medicines due to logistical breakdowns. When Žanna Zahudajova’s husband, who is suffering from high blood pressure, called after a long time, he told her that they were in the same situation as the men from the 14th brigade – without drinking water, food and therefore also without medicine.
“I told him, ‘I can’t imagine how skinny you are.’ And he: ‘It’s better if you don’t see me,'” added for Hromadske a Ukrainian woman whose husband has been in leading positions for more than 100 days.
