The commander of a battalion pushed out of the Donetsk village of Urozhaine in recent days has criticized the lack of support offered to them, as Ukrainian forces continue their counteroffensive and search for weak spots in Russian defensive lines.
Alexander Khodakovsky, the commander of the Russian-aligned “Vostok” battalion fighting on the Donetsk front, wrote on Telegram on Monday that his forces had suffered losses in their defense of Urozhaine, from which Ukrainian forces reportedly ejected Russian occupiers and inflicted severe casualties on those fleeing.
“No additional forces from the reserve were involved in this sector, no new artillery battalions were deployed,” wrote Khodakovsky, who before joining the Moscow-instigated 2014 rebellion in the Donbas had served in the Security Service of Ukraine’s famed Alpha special forces battalion. “The battles are being fought with the forces that are available. Let’s just say—poor forces.”
“Of course, we suffered losses,” Khodakovsky added. “We did not wait for the promised reinforcements at [Urozhaine], which were supposed to arrive any day.”
Roman Chop/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Still, the commander was bullish about the performance and prospects of his troops.
“Not a single house” was surrendered “without a fight,” Khodakovsky wrote. Russian forces in the area, he said, “squeeze everything they can out of themselves…Yes, we suffer losses, but every small victory for the enemy is a Pyrrhic victory.”
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar on Monday reported continued counteroffensive actions on the southern Zaporizhzhia and southeastern Donetsk fronts. Kyiv’s forces, she wrote on Telegram, achieved unspecified successes around Urozhaine and the neighboring town of Staromayorske.
“The enemy constantly makes unsuccessful attempts to restore the lost position in the Staromayorske district,” Maliar wrote.
Elsewhere, Maliar said that heavy fighting continues around the now infamous and destroyed city of Bakhmut that for several months was an epicenter of combat.
“In the past week, the freed territory in the Bakhmut direction has been increased by 3 square km [1 square mile], and the total freed area in the Bakhmut direction is 40 square km,” she said.
But elsewhere along the 800-mile front, Ukrainian troops are on the defensive. In the northeastern Kharkiv and Luhansk regions, Russia has amassed an attacking force seemingly intended to draw attention and resources away from Kyiv’s offensive in the south.
“The enemy continues offensive actions in the east,” Maliar wrote. “A certain decrease in the number of shelling and ammunition used by the enemy is recorded, but this does not mean that the enemy will retreat from its plans. The enemy is currently regrouping and trying to restore lost capabilities. Fighting continues.”
The battlefield situation around Kupyansk and Lyman is difficult, Maliar added.
“The enemy is constantly attacking,” she said. “Our troops repel attacks.”
In the Kupyansk area, Russian troops are searching for weak points in Ukrainian defensive positions along the Ukrainian-Russian border, Maliar said.
In Lyman, Maliar said the attacking Russian troops are trying to eject Ukrainians from the Serebryansky forest.
The Institute for the Study of War’s Monday bulletin noted that Russian forces had advanced near Kupyansk, where last week Ukrainian authorities issued an evacuation order seemingly prompted by recent Russian gains.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.