“Chaotic” withdrawal of Ukraine from Russia, according to its soldiers

Up to just over a week, Artem Cariacin and his squad made regular trips across the border of Ukraine in the Russian city of Suja.

He shows me a video made with a phone from their last trip, as the Ukrainian forces withdrew from the Russian Kursk region. This shows them that they are making their way past dozens of burned military and civil vehicles.

A soldier armed with a rifle, their last line of defense scans the horizon for Russian drones. From nowhere, one flies to the back of his truck. Sparks fly, but continue to continue.

Artem says they were lucky – the explosive fee was not big enough to stop them.

Another truck nearby was less happy. He was already on fire.

Artem acknowledges that the retreat of Ukraine from Suja, the largest city of Ukraine, held in Kursk, is “not well organized”.

“It was quite chaotic,” he tells me. “Many units remained in disarray. I think the problem was the withdrawal order came too late.”

According to him, according to him, because the units work without appropriate communications. Starlink satellite systems, which they usually rely on, did not work in Russia.

The 27-year-old soldier still views the Kursk offensive as a widely successful. Artem says she forced Russia to divert its forces from the east. Most of Ukraine’s troops still managed to escape on time – even if many were on foot.

But he believes that the surprising invasion of Ukraine in the Russian territory, launched last August, was too deep and too narrow – relying only on one major road for supplies and reinforcements.

While Artem and his people were running for their lives, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone to try to end the war. Artem says he finds this “absurd.”

“For me, these calls between Trump and Putin are just surreal,” he says. “Trump wants to end the war because he promised to do it – and Putin wants to mislead Trump to continue his war. I can’t take their conversations seriously.”

Artem, whose home is in the Luhansk already occupied by the Russian region, tells me that he feels disappointed with the US and Trump. “What can I feel when they just want to give me home?”

Artem says he never believed that Putin would be ready to trade with any part of Russia for the occupied territories of Ukraine. But he still believes that Kursk’s offensive was important to protect his own border. Ukrainian troops may have been forced to withdraw, but they still take a high place above the border with sums.

Ukraine continues its cross-border raids-not only in Kursk but also Belgorod.

The attack by Serhiy Assault Battalion helps to plan these attacks on the way through Russian mining fields and anti-tank obstacles known as the “Dragon Teeth”.

We joined him on a mission at night to find and restore armored vehicles that need repair. This is the most secure time to move near the Russian border.

Sergius himself is no stranger to Russia: he was born there. He now has Belarusian citizenship, but chose to fight for Ukraine. He justifies Ukraine’s invasion of his former home. According to him, Russia is trying to create a buffer zone in Ukrainian territory.

Traveling in its Ukrainian armored vehicle, Sergius still lists the likely threats, we are now less than 10 km from the Russian border: sliding bombs, rockets and artillery and drones, equipped with thermal chambers for images.

His own vehicle is equipped with electronic counter-measures for congestion of enemy drones, but even those will not work against drones driven by optical wires. These cannot be stopped, although on some routes Ukraine has already erected a network to try to catch the drones before they can hit their goal.

Our initial demand near the Russian border for a damaged American Bradley -based vehicle was abandoned when Sergius was intelligence that Russian drones work nearby. Instead, he tries to find another broken Bradley, where the risks will be less.

He and his driver still have to overcome obstacles along the way. Trees and branches lie on their way – the remains of a recent Russian air strike. We see a few more explosions in the distance, briefly rotate the night sky orange.

In the end, Sergius finds his broken Bradley. He has already been extracted from the battlefield across the border and is loaded on a truck that will be returned for repair.

Bradley’s commander confirms me that they are fighting in Russia. He describes situations across the border as “difficult, but we behave.”

Bradley is another reminder of reading Ukraine on US military support. This now seems less secure with Trump’s focus on peace talks. Sergius says he is already clear to him that he has a “traffic jam behind Ukraine’s back”.

I ask Sergius if he believes that European nations can fill any void left by the United States. Is the European “Coalition of Desire” enough to guarantee Ukraine’s security?

“I think if America does not help Ukraine, then the fire will be agreed soon – but under extremely unfavorable conditions for Ukraine,” Sergius replies.

“Europe obviously cannot resolve this conflict itself. They are not strong enough. They focus on their own economies instead of thinking about security.”

Sergius says he wants the war to end. Like many Ukrainians, he would like to see peace – but not at any price.

Additional reporting from Volodymyr Lozkho and Anastasiia Levchenko