Withdrawal from Debaltseve: An Eyewitness Account

Today was a night of daring success and a heavy, protracted day tinged with defeat...

From what can be disclosed..

At night, we received an order to urgently dislodge the enemy from a designated height. The reconnaissance unit of the "Donbass" battalion, together with SBU special forces, stormed a hill near the village of Nyzhne Lozove, from which militants had been constantly shelling our columns moving along a country road to and from Debaltseve (via Novohryhorivka). In the night battle, we acted more skillfully, and the surviving separatists hastily withdrew from the strongpoint. 

There were no casualties in "Donbass," but unfortunately, the special forces had three wounded, one of whom died on the operating table at the hospital in Artemivsk – the doctors were powerless.. 

The combat mission was accomplished – our tanks moved onto the captured height, dug in, and all day, with infantry support (I no longer remember exactly which AFU brigade), they did not allow any opportunity to shell our columns in this sector.

The morning was tense. At night, we did not yet know what specifically prompted the urgency of taking this hill. But by around 8 a.m., it became clear – we are leaving Debaltseve. The uneasy feeling of a retreat... Ilovaisk déjà vu... It became clear that today both the morgue and the hospital in Artemivsk would be overflowing – unfortunately, I was not wrong...

As of 9 p.m., there were more than 170 wounded, and they continue to arrive. There were more than 25 dead in the morgue alone, but many from the last destroyed column (which, in the confusion, was left completely without cover and was shot at point-blank range by tanks) were not collected – they tried to extract at least the wounded. And the President says that all the equipment has come out, and we have about 30 wounded...

The guys from the 41st Brigade had been under complete siege for the last three days, under constant mortar fire, at a strongpoint in the Novohryhorivka area. All the equipment burned to the ground. The dead had to be left behind. The wounded were carried on stretchers and they covered 20 km on foot. They had to engage in combat, successfully destroying three enemy tanks in the process, and it is hard to count how many personnel. They passed through this hell in full strength without losses. 

We spotted them already on their approach to Myrnohrad – this was the first foot group (there were many more afterwards). The wounded were immediately loaded onto combat ambulances and sent to Artemivsk, and the rest of the guys onto our KRAZ, Spartan, and Volvo – to the same place. Then we returned and did it again: wounded, on foot or already lying down without the strength to get up along the road – we collected, loaded, and sent them off.

At around 9 a.m., the enemy artillery woke up and began actively shelling the checkpoints before Luhansk and along the highway beyond it. We had to take urgent measures and change the route of all columns from the highway to location "X," which another platoon of the "Donbass" battalion had been holding for the last week, as the highway had been long since ranged in and they were hitting it very accurately. We placed our guys at the intersections in Myrnohrad and further, who regulated the movement of all passing equipment. 

It should be noted that this manoeuvre allowed us to save many lives of our guys and combat equipment, because the separatists pounded the highway all day, which was empty. And all they achieved was the destruction of one bridge of minor importance.

As of now, scattered groups of the Ukrainian army are still emerging towards our positions. Literally just now, a tank drove up to our checkpoint in the "X" area from who knows where. We could have burned it down four times already, of course – in the dark, only a vague silhouette is visible and the characteristic sound is heard. It was good that we let it come close – at that point, nerves were at the limit and all "flies" (weapons) were, of course, open. Indeed, it turned out to be ours – from the 40th Brigade. It simply got lost. Never mind – we escorted it to our base for now, the tank crew will spend the night with us. We warmed them up, fed them, gave them drinks, and put them to bed)

What to say in general? In general, the separatists and the Russians, taking advantage of the ceasefire, threw all their forces and reserves at Debaltseve, assembling a grouping of 15,000–20,000 people here. It is absolutely certain that such key settlements in the LPR as Irmino, Stakhanov, Pervomaisk, and Kirovsk were left essentially without any equipment or personnel. In fact, small groups of militants were only providing security at checkpoints along the front line and at city entrances/exits.

It was already too critical for such a large grouping of our troops to remain in Debaltseve – we did not have sufficient capabilities for full supply with food and ammunition. Not to mention the evacuation of the wounded and the dead. 

The only road was, in essence, under constant fire – if not direct, then certainly artillery and mortar. 
We had to make a decision: go on the offensive along the entire front line, which would have led to significant, I am sure, successes, but also to an inevitable escalation of the conflict, undoubtedly. The second option: hand over Debaltseve and try to do so with minimal losses. The Commander-in-Chief chose the second option. And I do not condemn him.

I am not saying that this is better than it could have been in another scenario. I simply do not know what decision I would have made if I had the ability to see not just one square ahead of me, but the entire chessboard with all the pieces on it.

Blood... that is what today's day is remembered by... The wounded, barely alive and already dead... Under the unceasing rumble of cannonade... Closing the eyes of the fallen... My hands are in blood and I often look around to make sure that the blood is not mine...