A group of Ukrainian infantry soldiers were in a warehouse in southwestern Ukraine when they were shelled by Russian artillery. Sergei was hit in the face with shrapnel. He and his former best friend Gennady took selfies, squeezing part of the shell that didn’t fit.
A moment later, Russian tanks appeared on the opposite hill and fired through the village in front of them, including the warehouse. Henadi and the rest of the group – all from the Zaporozhye region – were also hit by shrapnel and all have hearing impairments.
“They had three tanks on the hill and they were just shooting at us. We just had rifles, “said Henadi. “We had equipment that the Americans and the Poles gave us, but it was not enough to fight.
They said they escaped from the warehouse under clouds of smoke and headed to the next village, from where they were taken to the Zaporozhye Military Hospital.
Gennady and Sergei’s selfie after the attack. Photo: Ed Ram / Guardian
The Guardian gained access to the military hospital to speak to soldiers, provided reporters did not identify specific battlefields or publish the full names of the soldiers interviewed.
“There are a lot of people motivated to fight,” Sergei said, speaking from a hospital ward to the rest of the company, which fled the warehouse. “But we are unarmed and we are desperately trying to keep the whole mass [of the Russian army]”
“There’s also just not enough time to train anyone who wants to fight,” added Dmitro, another member of the company who was lying on a bed in the ward.
Ukraine has criticized the West for supplying it with weapons, with President Vladimir Zelensky appealing almost every day because his country cannot produce the weapons or ammunition it needs to fight Russian invaders. The equipment required ranges from fighter jets and tanks that the West does not want or is slow to deliver, to artillery and armored vehicles – and most simply of all guns and ammunition.
On Thursday, the United States said it would supply another $ 800 million (£ 620 million) in weapons, including 72 howitzers, with total arms supplies reaching more than $ 3 billion since the start of the war, including “more than 50 million munitions”. according to US President Joe Biden. However, even when weapons are delivered, it can take two weeks or more before they arrive in Ukraine.
Other major countries are slower or more reluctant, most notably Germany, which has reduced the heavy weapons it is ready to offer to Ukraine and whose Chancellor Olaf Scholz has acknowledged that supplies of what it is ready to send are running low. . The speed with which Ukrainian forces use weapons and ammunition also surprised the West, which began to increase industrial production in an attempt to help Kyiv resist.
Ukrainian forces are currently holding a line that stretches hundreds of miles from Kharkov in the northeast to Nikolaev in the southwest.
Sergei (left) and Gennady talk about their time in battle. Photo: Ed Ram / Guardian
Sergei, whose face had been cut by shrapnel, was happy to be photographed despite the risks, as a military spokesman told him if he was captured by Russian forces. “We are not afraid of anything,” said Sergei. The Guardian confirmed once again before the publication that permission had been given to use the images of the soldiers.
Earlier in the day, the group escaped fire from a Russian plane. “A plane flew over us and bombed us a little. It was a little unpleasant, “Sergei said with a smile. – Well, in fact, not a little, completely unpleasant.
Another member of the group who escaped from the warehouse, Nikola, said the Russians had drones and knew exactly where their positions were.
“Things are very difficult,” Nicola said. “I can only talk about our situation. I don’t know what’s wrong with the other one [battalions]”
Of all the cities in central and eastern Ukraine, the city of Zaporozhye feels like the one where life is closest to pre-war, but Russian forces occupy more than 70% of the Zaporozhye region. Meanwhile, 20 percent of the region is the southern front of Ukraine and is a war zone between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
The new restrictions on the movement of journalists south of the city of Zaporozhye appear to indicate that the situation on the southern front is deteriorating. According to soldiers interviewed by the Guardian, Ukrainian forces were driven out of at least one of the three towns and villages an hour south of the town the New York Times visited three weeks ago.
The military press secretary of the Zaporozhye region, Ivan Ariefiev, said that now journalists are not allowed to travel to these places, but said that this is not because the situation on the front is deteriorating. He said the travel restrictions were because the active phase of the war on the Southern Front had begun.
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A group of soldiers visited by the Guardian in the Zaporozhye region were about seven miles (12 km) from Russian positions. They did not expect the battle to reach them quickly, and said the lines to the south would be delayed – although the shells landed between two and three miles.
They said they lacked medical equipment. Among the 23 people, they had only six helmets and six turnstiles – some of which were hand-sewn by civilian volunteers. They said that while the helmets are on their way from Poland, volunteers and suppliers are struggling to find turnstiles even abroad.
The wounded soldiers at the hospital said they had received an extremely warm welcome from local villagers who often bought them food. During the retreat, they removed the license plates of the cars they used so that Russian soldiers could not identify the locals who had given them vehicles.
There are widespread reports of locals suspected of aiding the Ukrainian army being tortured and even killed by Russian forces.
Sergei said he used his own car to tour the battlefield for just under two months before being wounded and abandoned. “I will never get it [the car] back, “said Sergei.” Although maybe it will come back to me. “
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