Ukrainian commanders gave their soldiers the wrong coordinates and quit the combat mission on the left bank of the Dnepr, captured Ukrainian Marines have told Sputnik.
"They picked us out and then put us on the boats to cross the river. They said we had to cross the road where our guys were waiting for us, and we had to evacuate the wounded. So, we crossed the road and ended up in an ambush. The boats just took off. They dispatch the soldiers and then immediately set sail," said one of the captives, Yaroslav Nikiforov.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) earlier reported on a mission carried out by a unit from the Dnepr battlegroup. The Russian unit, led by Senior Lieutenant Zolto Arsalanov in the Kherson region, destroyed troops belonging to Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade that attempted to gain a foothold on the left bank of the Dnepr.
Arsalanov, who was wounded in the battle, and the military personnel of the unit, were presented with state awards by Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation and General of the Army Sergei Shoigu for the courage and heroism shown during the successfully conducted operation which resulted in 11 Ukrainian marines being captured.
Maxim Solovyov, another Ukrainian serviceman, shared that their officers were in the rear as the landing was taking place. There were no concrete tasks for the soldiers; the commanders simply gave out the drop-off location as the soldiers were on their way across the river.
"I got to the left bank on a motor boat. We were captured because of the wrong locations they gave us. The officer was not around when we were crossing the river," captured Mikhail Zolin said in a video shared by Moscow's MoD.
Zolin added that the unit he used to serve in had a single grenade launcher and a few rifles. However, the weapons often ran short of munitions.
All the Ukrainian soldiers in captivity claim that the training process before being sent to the front is very brief, lasting about a month. For the most part, the training involves digging up trenches and taking theory classes. There are about two firing practices, though not all new fighters manage to partake in it.