Previously occupied Selydove in Donetsk Region was defended by 60 AFU soldiers, all due to critical shortage of people - CNN
The Ukrainian Defense Forces are experiencing a shortage of people on the battlefield, which is leading to the successes of the russian occupation army. This is especially noticeable in recent months in the west of the Donetsk Region, where the russians manage to advance in the areas of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove.
This is reported by CNN with reference to Ukrainian army servicemen, who are performing combat missions in these areas of the front.
A serviceman of the 15th operational brigade Kara-Dag of the National Guard of Ukraine told a CNN correspondent that a critical situation has developed in the Pokrovsk area.
Due to a shortage of infantry on the front line, his unit of UAV operators is forced to use a large number of drones to strike at advancing soldiers of the russian army.
"We don't have enough infantry to fight and hold out for a while, while the drones do their job. That's why we often see situations when the enemy is uncontrollably penetrating vulnerable areas," said a serviceman with the call sign Skhid [East].
Other unnamed Ukrainian army servicemen told CNN that they fear a possible significant breakthrough by the russians.
According to the commander of one of the units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, the town of Selydove, which the russians captured in late October of this year, was allegedly defended by only 60 Ukrainian servicemen.
He claims that they held the defense at six positions, which were quickly surrounded by the occupiers. Having allegedly suffered significant losses, the Ukrainian military was forced to retreat.
Servicemen who spoke to CNN fear that the peace initiative of US President-elect Donald Trump may be too late.
A sniper from the Kara-Dag brigade, with the call sign Koshchiy, said that the Ukrainian army does not have much time, if any at all.
"Now they are pulling their troops as much as possible to the front line. And then at some point they will all go on the assault. They can go very far. Let's say, in one day," CNN quotes him as saying.
The serviceman added that the russians are managing to advance because there are no people in the positions to defend themselves.
According to Skhid, he arrived in the Pokrovsk Axis in August of this year. During this time, his unit has never gone to the training grounds and been replenished with personnel.
"The russians are constantly manned, constantly undergoing training, there are certain rotations, replenishment of personnel. We constantly hear about this from intercepts, that they have replacements and rotations," he noted.
According to CNN, the morale of the Ukrainian military is also undermined by the cruelty of the occupiers, who are executing unarmed soldiers of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
One of the videos that drone operators showed to journalists shows residents of the settlement of Petrivka showing the occupiers the basement of a private house, from where the russians then take out several Ukrainian soldiers one by one. After that, one of the russians opens fire.
As Ukrainian News Agency reported, earlier in November, the British newspaper Financial Times wrote that the next few months will be the most critical for Ukraine, as the russians will try to capture as much territory as possible before the start of possible negotiations.
As a reminder, on November 1, the US Department of Defense stated that due to the low level of mobilization of personnel, the Ukrainian Defense Forces will have enough for another 6-12 months of war.