Hell in the mud. Continuous assaults, trenches in the water, cold-the commander of the Svoboda battalion told how Bakhmut is being held.
What the battle for the hottest spot on the front looks like through the eyes of a man from the trenches full of water-interview with Peter Kuzik, commander of the Svoboda battalion.
For more than half a year, Russian troops-from elite units to freed criminals from Wagner's private Military company-have been stubbornly beating like fools against the defensive positions of Ukrainian troops near the once 70,000-strong city of Bakhmut.
This area of the Donetsk region, along with Avdiivka, located north of Donetsk itself, has remained the hottest point of a full-scale war for weeks. And the only place on the entire thousand-kilometer front where the Enemy is trying to advance.
The occupiers ' losses here are estimated at thousands of dead, but they persist in launching new attacks that take place amid the continuous autumn mud.
In an interview with HB, the commander of the Svoboda battalion, Pyotr Kuzyk, whose unit is one of those holding Bakhmut, told what is happening on the front line now.
Is it really true that the invaders are trying to encircle Bakhmut from the south?
They have concentrated offensive strike groups in this area, a lot of resources. They are trying to show the whole world that they are capable of anything.
When they realized that they would not take Bakhmut head — on, they began a detour-they tried to bypass him from the right and left.
They have launched pressure offensives in all directions. Now their offensive has gone all over the site. The situation is difficult, because in some areas, for example, in Kherson, a lot of our equipment was concentrated, which perfectly hits targets.
Here, near Bakhmut, there is still no parity in artillery. The Russian artillery armament is much better. They beat me up.
And now they have much more people in this area at the expense of "Wagners" and "prisoners" than our defenders.
We talked to the prisoner. They are ruled by the prison system. He himself is an ATGM [ATGM — anti-tank guided missile operator]. He was thrown into the assault. He asked why exactly he should go to the assault, because he is a pturist? They beat him up quite seriously, threw him in a cold prison, called him up a week later, and asked him if he would storm the building. And he agreed, because he remembered the story when they were standing in the ranks, the commanders came and said: "Guys, we understand everything-the cold, rain, swamp — it's hard.
Anyone who doesn't want to-raise your hand, there will be no questions to you." Two people raised their hands, were taken aside and shot in front of the whole formation. Then they asked: who else doesn't want to fight? They are controlled by fear and constantly send small groups storming our positions.
The Russians advance in small groups, then rally together to break through somewhere?
Yes, there is a certain logic in this. First, small groups that support each other are less vulnerable to our artillery, because they are small and there is no point in spending BC [ammunition] on them.
This makes it a little easier for our defenders to defend, but since there are ten such assaults a day, and at night - six or eight, this seriously exhausts the defense. The same tactics have remained, as during the war: prisoners and chmon [mobilized], who were caught, are allowed on the lines, we have to destroy them.
Our enemies detect our firing points and try to inflict artillery damage. Accordingly, then they continue to attack, accumulate themselves for 100 meters, and when they have already accumulated enough (and all this time there are attacks in these small groups), they make a dash and jump on the positions of our defenders or break out the defense lines or fortified area.
The tactic is quite effective and, as for me, they have no other option. But they suffer serious losses.
How big are their human losses?
They have huge ones. They don't even count the bodies. The fields and landings in front of the positions are all littered with corpses. I watched them as they dragged their friend away to bury him, pulled off his warm sweater, and then started putting it on themselves.
But, nevertheless, each assault group has a grenade launcher, a machine gunner, there are submachine gunners who more or less perform tasks. They have zagryadotryady.
I apologize for speaking slowly right now, because I'm so cold-I'm already turning on my stomach.
I just left the first line (I was called), I'm warming up in the car, so I almost fall asleep, because I haven't been sleeping all this time. They took off quite seriously yesterday. We have found some slack in the defense, because (I will not mention the numbers of units, so as not to spoil their honor) there are less motivated units than ours.
And yesterday they slightly squandered our defenses in the area just bypassing Bakhmut. Some units could not withstand this artillery invasion and gave a back one.
This is our principle: we-the Svoboda Battalion-do not retreat. And for this we were in a semi-circle, there was a lot of work. Besides, it's a swamp, mud. It is very difficult to take out the wounded, to deliver ammunition, trenches are constantly being damaged — in this swamp they constantly need to be updated.
— There were photos of trenches-knee-deep puddles.
- These are absolutely valid photos, because there is no time to make drains in the trenches. And there is no one to do them. Everything is manual, everything is under fire.
It's raining now. Today is the first day without rain, and then yesterday it was raining, all the water flows down into the trenches. And the bombardment is such that you can't get out of the trench, so the guys were constantly wet for a day or two.
Plus the temperature is like this. A lot of concussed, a lot with pneumonia. We stand and defend. I see the young guys gritting their teeth and standing there. I would very much like at least someone to write about their feat, because very few people in the country know about it.
I'm out of the battle zone now. And I saw that there was some kind of srach in relation to the point of invincibility. I think what do politicians really do? You need to write about these guys! Here are the points of invincibility - they really stand in inhumane conditions, they are constantly stormed.
They not only withstand assaults and fight back, but they also counterattack, take territory from the enemy, take him prisoner.
— I remember our conversation when your unit was defending Severodonetsk, and the enemy was pressing very hard. As I understand it, the situation is more difficult now, because there are no buildings, no place to hide?
"You drew the correct conclusions.
The situation is even more difficult, because when they stopped pressing head-on, and concentrated their main efforts on bypassing, our units had to make positions in less protected conditions and lay out positions in the field from scratch in order to prevent the girth from being carried out. And this is a more difficult situation: we are in the palm of our hand, because there are no more plantings (all the trees were mowed down by artillery shells to splinters).
We're standing in the fields. Heavy tracked vehicles, not to mention jeeps and all that. We save tanks and APCs for combat.
— About the seriously injured: I understand that it is difficult to get to the first line to collect them, so you have to carry people manually?
So. First, the wounded person must wait until it gets dark, because it is impossible to take him out during the day. Secondly, as soon as it gets dark, and now it happens early, manually carry the wounded somewhere under 2 km from the position.
I remember that in Severodonetsk, too, there were cases when some units unexpectedly withdrew. And Freedom covered them. Is this the same situation now?
"I don't want to belittle the merits of others. There are units that stand and fight like lions. Unfortunately, there are units that cannot withstand this onslaught, such conditions.
There are some units that have recently been mobilized, who were promised a second line of defense, but were thrown here to close the breakthroughs. They, to put it mildly, are not ready either psychologically, or even do not have the appropriate clothes, appropriate equipment (there should be compact hot water bottles, shovels, rubber boots, raincoats, capes, etc.).
They don't have it, so they got wet on the first day. The wind blew and they got sick. In such conditions, they are uncomfortable and leave.
I would like people to know about the feat. Svobodovtsy are now in positions. We are not retreating, so we have about 120 wounded now. We lost 16 children. First, we must protect the Ukrainian land. Second, if we don't hold their position, we will be outflanked simply from the right and left. We have to do this professionally.
What do the defenders of Bakhmut need now?
- Now we need a focus of attention from our management, because we are not only without a victory, but it is still really far away. Bakhmut is a principled city, it cannot be handed over. Here you need a reinforced BC for artillery. We have it, as the example of Kherson and Kharkiv has shown. There is artillery, it just needs to be concentrated in the right places.
It's not just about my division, but about everyone. In order not to finish off these units, it is necessary to give them time for rehabilitation, it is necessary to reduce, or rather, introduce a rotation period. Some units need time to dig through, cure all diseases (pneumonia, colds, and so on).
Wash your clothes, dry them, and put them in order. And they are still standing there. Then there would be no such breakthroughs, everyone would work evenly.
I believe that it is necessary to conduct a reasonable rotation. You don't even need to take them far-10-15 km from the front line, so that all the explosions put less pressure on your head.
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