Donbas-pataljoona suurimmalta osin vielä Ilovaiskissa jumissa ja pyytää jo toisen kerran, että MoD auttaisi heitä hyökkäämällä. Pataljoonan tilanne on ollut huono jo pitkään.
Ei noista vapaaehtoispataljoonista näytä paljon välitettävän jos joutuvat pulaan. Apu kyllä kelpaa, kuten esim. tänään Mariuopolin lähistöllä Venäjän rajan tuntumassa.
Alla ote tuosta KyivPostin jutusta:
Abandoned Donbas Battalion fights on
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An experienced and respected photographer, Glyadelov has covered many wars, including the Moldovan Transdnistria and Russian Chechen conflicts. Exasperated with the heavily restricted access to the front granted by the Ukrainian government's press service, he joined the Donbas Battalion to see what was really going on.
He found that while volunteers motivated by principle and with a high fighting spirit are stranded in desperate circumstances, government and media claim the situation is under control and reinforcements are on their way. “They are frightened of the truth,” he said. “First, they need to actually provide the help they keep promising. And second, they need to stop lying.”
With the regular army in a disastrously impoverished state, Ukraine is reliant on the goodwill of volunteers to win its war with the Russian-backed ‘people’s republics’ in the east, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic.
Volunteers are providing the army with everything from food to body armour to medical kits. And volunteers are increasingly doing the actual fighting. Volunteer battalions have been in combat alongside regular troops since May.
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Altogether, four volunteer battalions are officially taking part in the Ilovaisk operation which was planned to reinforce the 93rd mechanised brigade. But Semenchenko says other than a detachment from the Dniepr battalion, the others have retreated and now refuse to come to their aid.
“I don’t think there is any other army in the world where they would do that,” he said. “It’s a violation of all army codes, statutes and traditions.”
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Not just volunteer battalions, but also troops under the command of the Defense Ministry are in the area and could come to relieve the Donbas fighters. But Semenchenko believes the Defense Ministry is deliberately ignoring the situation. “I think it is profitable for the defence ministry not to send help, but to achieve a situation where volunteer battalions start blaming each other about who helped who,” he said.
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“We still have the same generals and the same secret service, nothing has changed. Yes, there are those who are real patriots and support Ukraine, but there are many more who are corrupt and would sell anything to anyone.”
