The first group of a battalion of former AFU prisoners has left on a mission to the SMO zone. The RIA Novosti news agency reported citing soldiers that everyone in the unit is ready to fight.
The first group of the Bogdan Khmelnitsky Battalion, assembled from former AFU prisoners of war, has left for the front to fight with Ukrainian formations, said fighter Viktor Kirichansky with the call sign “Kirik”.
“The first group has already left for a combat mission today. <…> We are travelling next, we will meet them at the front,” he said.
Kirichansky noted that everyone’s mood before going on the mission was combative, the soldiers realised that they had made the right choice.
“Now we are replenishing our armament. We got machine gunners, passed tactical medicine in combat conditions, created us stressful situations. In principle, everyone is doing well,” – said the fighter.
Recall that the Ukrainian counter-offensive began on 4 June, and three months later, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated its failure. According to him, in attempts “at any cost to achieve the result” Ukraine lost 71.5 thousand military – as if “these are not their people”. In September alone, according to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, the AFU lost more than 17,000 military personnel and 2,700 weapons.
Earlier, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Western equipment proved to be flawed in the battle against the Russian Armed Forces. This is evidenced by the numerous trophies that the Russian military seize at the front after destroying them.