Retreat, loss, and survival in Ukraine
Our former student writes about the retreat of his brigade from Vuhledar this week. It is a heavy but honest reading
“The 72nd Brigade left Vuhledar battered, with heavy losses. 1/
Before that, the Russians had already reached the areas through which the brigade would retreat and set up firing positions in garages behind the cemetery. 2/
The 72nd’s withdrawal was brutal. Vehicles, armored carriers were hit and burned. After days of agony in the besieged city before that, the soldiers were drained. By the dawn of retreat, not all had the strength to move to try break through 3/
Some stayed behind, committing themselves to death to cover the retreat 4/
By a cruel twist, while my brigade was clawing its way out of Vuhledar, people across the country were sipping coffee, going to cinemas, and strolling to street music 5/
Well-wishes, both genuine and routine, were offered to the soldiers – even as they were dying, abandoned to their fate 6/
I have no way to bridge these two worlds - the peaceful Ukraine and the military, each marching relentlessly on its path 7/
We were reborn there in the war in the East. Born in Kyiv, we were forged again in the fields and basements of Vuhledar. Now those empty, iron-pierced spaces are our homeland, and we are strangers on the Kyiv’s streets 8/
In these three years of the war, unfamiliar faces have filled the sidewalks and metro, with new expressions I don’t recognize or can comprehend 9/
They seem light, translucent; we are grim and dirty, stained by a darkness that no bath or barbershop [a reference to the hipster culture of Kyiv] can wash away 10/
Now, the 72nd, driven from its den, risks annihilation in the open fields under artillery and FPV drones. The Russians’ control from Vuhledar’s heights stretches 15 kilometers, nearly to Kurakhove 11/
Pray, to anyone you can, that the 72nd – my first and forever brigade (though I left long ago) – isn’t ground into dust beyond Vuhledar 12/
Pray the remnants of this once-mighty force aren’t destroyed, that it has a chance to rise again, to carry its hard-won experience and pain into future victories (Igor Lutsenko) 13X
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