near Bakhmut, Ukraine
CNN
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Southwest of the town of Bakhmut, Ukrainian soldiers Andrey and Borisych live in a candlestick bunker cut into the frozen earth. For several weeks they have been facing hundreds of fighters linked to the Russian private military contractor wagner throwing themselves against Ukrainian rescue,
Disguised in a balaclava, Andrey reminisces about a seemingly endless firefight when they come under attack from a flood of Wagner fighters.
“We were fighting continuously for almost 10 hours. And it wasn’t just like waves, it was seamless. So it was like they didn’t stop coming.
Andrey says his AK-47 rifles got so hot from the constant firing that he had to keep replacing them.
“It was about 20 soldiers on our side. And let’s assume that there are 200 from their side.
Wagner’s method of warfare is to send the first wave of raiders consisting mainly of raw recruits straight from Russian prisons. They know little about military strategy and are poorly equipped. Most expect that if they survive their six-month contract they can go home rather than return to Cell
“They form groups – let’s say of 10 soldiers – reaching 30 meters, then they start digging in to hold the position,” says Andrey about Wagner.
Wagner defector details brutal execution he witnessed
Another group follows, he says, to claim another 30 metres. “In this way, step by step, (Wagner) is trying to move forward, while they lose a lot of people in the meantime.”
Only when the first wave is exhausted or cut off does Wagner send more experienced fighters, often from the flanks, in an attempt to overrun the Ukrainian positions.
Andrey says facing the attack was a horrifying and surreal experience.
“Our machine gunner was almost going mad, because he was firing at them. And he said, I know I shot him, but he didn’t fall. And then after a while, when he could bleed , then he just falls down.”
Andrey compares the fight to a scene from a zombie movie. “They’re climbing over the dead bodies of their friends, stepping on them,” he says.
“It seems very likely that he may have been receiving some drugs prior to the attack,” he says, a claim that CNN has not been able to independently verify.
Even after the first waves ended, the assault continued as Ukrainian defenders say they ran out of bullets and found themselves surrounded.
“The problem was that they went around us. And that’s how they surrounded us. They came from the other side. We didn’t expect them to come from there.
“We were shooting till the last bullet, so we threw away all the hand grenades we had and left only me and a few people. We were helpless in that situation.
They were lucky. Ukrainian fighters say that held off until the last moment, Wagner withdrew at the end of the day.
matches Andreae’s account of Wagner’s approach Ukrainian intelligence report obtained by CNN Last week.
According to that report, if Wagner’s forces were successful in taking a position, the artillery support would allow them to dig foxholes and consolidate their gains. According to Ukrainian intercepts, there is often a lack of coordination between Wagner and the Russian military.
CNN reached out to Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin this week about allegations of abuse in the company’s ranks.
Prigozhin responded in a statement that was largely sarcastic via his press service, calling CNN an “open enemy” before asserting Wagner is an “exemplary military organization that violates all the necessary laws and regulations of modern warfare”. complies with.”
As he talks to CNN, the ground above Andrey’s bunker echoes with near-constant gunfire. The buzz of cannons going out is followed a few seconds later and a distant rumble a few kilometers away.
Small arms fire erupts as Ukrainian soldiers try to bring it down on what they detect to be a Russian drone.
Andrey’s unit says it captured a Wagner fighter, whose story is as tragic as Wagner’s tactics are primitive and brutal.
According to a recording of the person being questioned, the man is an engineer but had started selling drugs to earn some money. He volunteered to join Wagner in the belief that it would clear his criminal record so that his daughter would have fewer problems following her dream of becoming a lawyer.
“And when did you realize you’re just meat?” Andrey asks her.
“On the first combat mission. They brought us to the front line on 28 December. He sent us ahead last night.
“How many people were in the group?”
“Ten,” he replies.
Andrey says he told the engineer: “Obviously, you know you will be killed (in the war). But you are afraid to fight for your freedom in your country.
‘ He said, ‘Yes, it is true. We are afraid of Putin.'”
Andrey compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not long ago the country’s leading comedian.
“Our advantage is that yes, we do, we can actually choose the person who [Russians] Call a clown. But as we can see, this man is, at the moment, the leader of the truly free world on our planet.
Andrey, who is from the southwestern city of Odessa and joined within days of Russia’s invasion, says he will resist no matter how many more fighters are sent to attack his positions.
“Most of my people, they are volunteers. They had (a) good business, they had (a) good job, they had good pay, but they came to fight for their motherland. And it makes a lot of difference, they say.
“This is a war for independence. It’s not even a war between Ukraine and Russia. It’s a fight between a regime and a democracy.”