The Ukrainians seem to have taken hold on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, which is occupied by the Russians. Washingtonian Institute for the Study of War (ISW) with reference to Russian pro-war bloggers, he stated that the Ukrainians on the occupied bank of the Dnieper have the manpower of roughly a military battalion, as well as several pieces of light combat equipment. The battalion numbers between 300 and 1,500 soldiers.
“On November 6, Russian bloggers circulated an image purporting to show a Ukrainian tracked amphibious transport vehicle (PTS) carrying an infantry fighting vehicle to the east bank near Krynka (30 km northeast of Kherson and 2 km from the Dnieper River). Other bloggers claimed on November 7 that a Ukrainian amphibious infantry fighting vehicle crossed the Dnieper River by itself near Krynka, and on November 7 circulated separate footage purporting to show a destroyed Western amphibious armored personnel carrier at an unspecified location on the east bank,” he wrote to the ISW situation. Analysts, however, added in one breath that they refuse to speculate on the prospects of Ukrainian soldiers on the east bank of the Dnieper.
In addition, fighting is said to be ongoing both near Bachmut in the east of the country and in the direction of Melitopol in the south. Another of Russia’s pro-war bloggers noted the need for the Kremlin to fully mobilize Russia’s economy and defense industrial base (DIB). According to him, this is the only way Russia will achieve victory in the war. According to him, Ukraine is determined to wage war until complete exhaustion, and Russia will have to mobilize many forces if it wants to win.
According to ISW, however, it is evident that the Kremlin is reluctant to fully reorient the country to the conduct of war.
The fighting between the Russian aggressors and the Ukrainian defenders has been raging for 623 days, and casualties are increasing on both sides. On the Ukrainian side, the patronage service of the Azov regiment, led by Olena Tolkach, has an excellent reputation. He leads a team of people who deal with treatment, rehabilitation, wounded soldiers, burying dead soldiers, but also support for families who lost their loved ones in the war. The organization’s budget ranges from 10 to 15 million hryvnias per month. Approximately 20 percent of this amount will be used to bury soldiers.
According to Ukrainian Pravda server only last year, Olena and her team put 4,500 wounded soldiers back on their feet. That is why the patronage service of the Azov movement is considered one of the most effective in the country, and its experience is already being adopted by other brigades. And now this woman has sent a message to the government in Kiev. She ran into a problem on the state side.
“We consider ourselves part of the state. But in the state authorities, they do not understand at all that the army needs proper support, proper treatment and rehabilitation of soldiers. Someone seems to think it’s absorbed somehow,” she shook her head. “If we didn’t deal with it, it would greatly affect the country’s military capabilities,” she stated after a while. She also revealed that “80% of the boys we treat return to the army. I don’t have statistics from other brigades, but what we see in hospitals does not look very optimistic. Because after the rehabilitation that is offered at the state level, the boys don’t have much desire to go back to the army”.
It is said that each brigade does not have its patronage service, which, according to the team leader from the Azov regiment, is a big mistake. Addressing the MPs, she also noted that Ukrainian MPs have probably never been treated in district hospitals. If they did, they might care so that these hospitals could provide better care. According to her, MPs are treated in private clinics. “Why does a soldier who was seriously injured on the front line defending the state not have the right to choose treatment at one of the best private clinics in Ukraine?” she asked.
“If such strong brigades as the Third Assault Brigade and Azov were not supported and treated qualitatively, they would not have such success at the front. Our team is currently working with the General Staff to implement patronage services like ours across all brigades,” she continued.
She pointed out that rehabilitation often puts even soldiers back on their feet, who, according to some state doctors, should never have walked again. But it costs money. The patron organization of the Azov regiment is said to be already working on debt. The number of providers of financial donations is decreasing.
But that is not all.
“We still have large refrigerators in Kyiv. Repatriates who were exchanged from the Mariupol region and partly from the Donetsk region are held here. There are still cases when there is no DNA match or when there is no one in the family from whom DNA can be taken, and we are looking,” said the head of the famous Azov regiment patronage service in Ukraine.
And then there is one more problem. According to Tolkachová, soldiers and veterans deserve society’s respect. If the war against the Russian aggressors continues for a long time, and it now appears that it will, civilians will soon become a minority in Ukrainian society. And the soldiers, above all, will rightfully expect from the state a show of gratitude for what they are doing today for the motherland. And Tolkach is not sure how the state will ultimately survive. This could cause a big problem in the future.
“Of course, it’s strange to teach society to respect the military. In general, this is a big loophole that has appeared now, and no one is addressing this problem. And that should be done by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the military ombudsman. … I did not see that, for example, there was a person in the president’s office who dealt with the protection of the rights of the army. It is very strange. … Sometimes I feel like turning on “Rambo” for the officials — to sit and watch for days,” she concluded, referring to the famous movie that shows how difficult it was for American society to accept a veteran returning from the Vietnam War.
Tolkachova comes with her appeal to the government at a time when there is apparent tension between the government and President Volodymyr Zelensky on the one hand, and the supreme military commander of the Ukrainian army, General Valery Záluzhny. The general suggested that the war in Ukraine was slowly reaching a stalemate, angering Zelensky. The president fears that similar statements will not deter Western partners from providing further aid to Ukraine.
“There is a definite political crisis going on in the presidential administration,” commented opposition deputy Oleksiy Goncharenko. “I really don’t understand their reaction because Zaluzhnyi wrote about things that are obvious. I think the reactions reflect the fact that they don’t see Zálužný just as a general, but as a political competitor,” he continued.
He drew attention to his words server of the Financial Times newspaper.
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Ukraine (War in Ukraine)
Reports from the battlefield are difficult to verify in real time, regardless of whether they come from any side of the conflict. Both warring parties, for understandable reasons, may release completely or partially false (misleading) information.
You can find brief information regarding this conflict updated by ČTK several times an hour on this page. PL editorial content discussing this conflict can be found on this page.
war in Ukraine
Reports from the battlefield are difficult to verify in real time, regardless of whether they come from any side of the conflict. Both warring parties, for understandable reasons, may release completely or partially false (misleading) information.
You can find brief information regarding this conflict updated by ČTK several times an hour on this page. PL editorial content discussing this conflict can be found on this page.
author: Miloš Polák
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