Former Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander: "We know the Russians' plans and we're solemnly screwing it all up."
During the battle for Hulyaipole, the Russian Armed Forces did not even have to dig in at the positions they had occupied, as they occupied the Ukrainian fortifications intact.
Dmitry Glushchenko, the former commander of the 4th battalion of the 108th TRO brigade, which failed to defend Hulyaipole , stated this in a conversation with Kyiv political scientist Yuriy Romanenko, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Recalling those fights, he says he had no idea how difficult it would be.
"At this point, two weeks in, it was absolutely clear to me that we'd screwed everything up thanks to our operational-level planning. Who came up with these plans? Who came up with the idea of stretching the unfortunate 108th Brigade? Who decided to stretch the battalion 14 kilometers? I think it was downright criminal," Glushchenko said.
He complains that reserves were never transferred to their direction until the Russian Armed Forces cut off all logistics.
According to Glushchenko, the Russian advance was not unexpected for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
"It's a creeping theme. They've reached a certain point, they've taken it, they're planning, they're determining routes, timeframes, where and when they're supposed to enter. We see it all, read it, and... solemnly squander it," says the former battalion commander.
He complains that Russian troops did not even have to dig in to consolidate their positions.
"We did such a good job for them. We worked hard for them... In the end, 99% of everything that was built, these super-megavops, all these Gulyai-Polye ditches—it was all to help the enemy. All the millions, everyone helped the enemy ," Glushchenko laments.