Ukrainian troops talk about disaster and panic

Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the Russian Kursk region have described scenes “Like a horror movie” as they retired from the front lines.

The BBC receives extensive reports from Ukrainian troops, which tell of “catastrophic” withdrawal in the face of high fire, and columns of military equipment, destroyed and constant attacks by swarms of Russian drones.

The soldiers who spoke through social media received a nickname to protect their identity. Some gave stories about “collapse” as Ukraine lost Sudzha, the largest city it held.

Ukrainian travel restrictions to the front meant that it is not possible to obtain a complete picture of the situation. But so five Ukrainian soldiers described us what happened.

On March 9, “Volodymyr” sent a telegram post to the BBC, saying that it was still in Sudzha, where there was “panic and a collapse on the front”.

Ukrainian troops “try to leave – columns of troops and equipment. Some of them are burned by Russian drones on the road. It is impossible to leave during the day.”

The movement of men, logistics and equipment relied on a major route between Suja and Ukraine in the amounts of the region.

Volodymyr said it was possible to travel this time relatively safe a month ago. By March 9, it was “everything under the control of the fire of the enemy – drones around the clock. In a minute you can see two to three drones. This is a lot,” he said.

“Here we have all the logistics on a Sudzha-Sumy highway. And everyone knew that (the Russians) would try to cut it. But this again came as a surprise to our command.”

During the writing, just before Russia came home, Volodimir said that the Ukrainian forces were pressed from three countries.

By March 11, the Ukrainian forces were fighting to prevent a cut off road, according to the Maxim Telegram reports.

“A few days ago, we were ordered to leave the defense lines in an organized retreat,” he said, adding that Russia had accumulated significant power to seize the city, “including a large number of North Korean soldiers.”

Military experts believe that Russia has accumulated a force of up to 70,000 troops to seize Kursk – including about 12,000 North Koreans.

Russia had also sent its best drones in the front and used variants of Kamikaze and View-View (FPV) to “take fire control over the main logistics routes”.

They included drones connected to operators through optical conductors – which is impossible to retain electronic counteraction measures.

Maxim said that as a result, “the enemy has managed to destroy dozens of units of equipment” and that the remains have “created congestion on delivery routes”.

The situation on this day, March 11, was described as “catastrophic” by Anton.

The third soldier spoken of by the BBC served at the headquarters for the Kursk front.

He also emphasized the damage caused by Russian FPV drones. “We had an advantage in drones before, we don’t do it now,” he said. He added that Russia has an advantage with more accurate air strikes and a larger number of troops.

Anton said the delivery routes were cut off. “Logistics no longer works – organized supplies of weapons, ammunition, food and water are no longer possible.”

Anton said he was able to leave Suja on foot at night – “We almost died several times. The drones are in the sky all the time.”

The soldier predicts that all Ukraine’s support in Kursk will be lost, but “from a military point of view, the direction of Kursk is exhausted. There is no point in keeping it more. “

Western officials estimate that about 12,000 troops in Ukraine have participated in Ukraine. They were one of their best trained soldiers equipped with Western weapons, including tanks and armored vehicles.

Russian bloggers have posted videos showing some of this equipment that has been destroyed or captured. On March 13, Russia said the situation in Kursk was “entirely under our control” and that Ukraine had “abandoned” much of its materials.

In social media publications on March 11-12, the fourth Solider, “DMYTRO” likened the retreat from the front of “The Stage of the Horror Movie”.

“The roads are littered with hundreds of destroyed cars, armored vehicles and ATVs (all terrains). There are many wounded and dead.”

Vehicles were often hunted by multiple drones, he said.

He described his own narrow escape when the car he was traveling in was sinking. He and his fellow soldiers were trying to push the vehicle for free when they were directed by another FPV drone.

He missed the vehicle, but injured one of his comrades. He said they should hide in a forest for two hours before they were rescued.

Dmytro said many Ukrainians withdrew on foot with “boys walking 15 km to 20 km”. The situation, he said, has become “difficult and critical to catastrophic.”

In a message on March 14, DMYTRO added: “Everything was completed in the Kursk area … The operation was not successful.”

He estimated that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers were killed after the first transition in Russia in August.

The fifth soldier sounded less gloomy to the situation. On March 13, Artem sent a message to a telegram from a military hospital, where he was treated by wounds from shrapnel, suffered in a drone attack.

Artem said he fought in the west – near the village of Loknya, where the Ukrainian forces exposed firm resistance and “fight like lions.”

He believed that the operation had achieved some success.

“It is important so far that the armed forces of Ukraine have created this buffer zone, thanks to which the Russians cannot enter sums,” he said.

The best general of Ukraine, Alexander Syirski, insists that the Ukrainian forces have retired to “more favorable positions”, remain in Kursk and would make it “as long as it is appropriate and necessary”.

He said Russia had suffered more than 50,000 losses during the operation – including the killed, wounded or captured.

Now the situation is now very different from last August. Military analysts estimate that two -thirds of 1000 square/km earned at the beginning are lost.

Any hopes that Ukraine will be able to trade the Kursk territory for a part has significantly reduced.

Last week, President Volodimir Zelenski said he believed that the Kursk operation had “fulfilled its task”, forcing Russia to pull troops from the east and ease the pressure on Pokrovsk.

But it is not yet clear at what price.