‘In this war, the ordinary infantryman is nothing’: Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas feel abandoned and outgunned

Soldiers and volunteers in Bakhmut, Ukraine, are fatigued as the front with Ru

Soldiers and volunteers in Bakhmut, Ukraine, are fatigued as the front with Russia moves ‘closer and closer’.

Throughout more than three months of war, Ukrainian troops have largely held Russian forces at bay. With skilful tactics and grim determination, Ukrainian defenders have pushed Moscow’s troops away from the capital, Kyiv, and forced them to abandon designs for capturing the entire country.

Now, under ceaseless bombardment and after immense casualties, some Ukrainian troops say they are feeling abandoned by their leadership — left to die in hopeless conditions.

On a sunny day last week in Bakhmut, the Eastern Ukrainian city was preparing for a seemingly imminent siege. Buses streamed out of the city heading west, carrying loads of the most vulnerable: the elderly and mothers with children. Heavy military equipment passed them in the other direction, with a pair of BM-27 Uragan rocket launchers carrying deadly cargo toward the front lines with Russia.

The region is no stranger to war. Ukrainian forces have been battling Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas since 2014, long before this most recent invasion.

At one of the city’s few open businesses, a shawarma stand, a steady stream of exhausted soldiers and emergency workers returning from the front paused for a quick break, as artillery boomed in the near distance.

Alexey, a 28-year-old paramedic, had just returned from his latest journey. He and a colleague spent most of the day dashing to and from the town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, which is under direct Russian shelling.

Alexey estimates that about 30 per cent of Bakhmut’s pre-war population of about 75,000 remains, before mentioning a nine-storey building that was recently hit by a missile.

“At least 10 apartments are inhabited — the people came back and just patched up their flats as best they could,” he said. “They’re afraid, but they’ve got no money.”

Despite the war around him, Alexey’s spirits seem high enough. It’s a different story for other soldiers and volunteers returning from the front.

Nikita shakes his head, before turning to even harsher words for his superiors.

“You have to understand that there are two castes in this country,” he said. “There’s the upper caste, and then there’s us: the lower caste. We are just pawns. Nothing more. The upper caste gets the money, and we get the command: ‘Forward!’

“That’s how it’s always worked here [in Ukraine],” he said, before emphasizing that he doesn’t expect anyone to believe him.

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment about the soldiers’ allegations, including the claims that at least some units were not receiving the donated weapons.

Over the course of the war, Zelensky has repeatedly called on allies to supply Ukraine with more and better weapons, at times accusing the West of moving too slowly.

The U.S., the U.K. and Germany recently pledged some of the most advanced weapons yet, including helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, anti-aircraft systems and heavy artillery pieces.

The U.S. military has also begun training Ukrainian forces on the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), a sophisticated medium-range multiple rocket launcher — though officials have said it would take about three weeks of training before they could go to the battlefront.