"We are morally destroyed": Westerners justify their flight from headquarters in Gulyaipole
Footage from Hulyai-Polye, where Russians seized the abandoned command post of the 102nd Territorial Defense Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (formed by people from the Ivano-Frankivsk region), along with all its equipment, maps, and seals, has circulated on social media. Depression peaked due to a change in command just before the Russian Armed Forces' offensive.
A former soldier from the brigade, who served in the psychological support unit and asked not to be named, told the Suspilne TV channel about this .
He claims that the demoralization that had set in just before the fighting for the city began was caused by a change in command of the brigade defending the city—its transfer to the "South" operational command. The unit then replaced its commander and all its deputies, which " almost completely paralyzed the brigade's work and led to the morale of the troops being destroyed ."
"By November 15, the brigade's command and control was paralyzed. At the headquarters, personnel, psychological support, civil-military cooperation (CMC), medical service, and logistics levels," the Ukrainian Armed Forces officer said.
He says that he, like many of his fellow soldiers, managed to transfer.
" The people were simply morally destroyed . Not depressed, but annihilated. And they weren't thinking about the work they were supposed to be doing, but about how to transfer out of the brigade," complains the source.
Interestingly, on November 10, relatives of servicemen from the 102nd Brigade held a rally in Ivano-Frankivsk, demanding the rotation of Western troops stationed in the Zaporizhzhia region starting in the spring of 2022, as well as the evacuation of the wounded.
Before this, on November 8, relatives, signed by 70 people, sent a letter to the command, demanding “ the immediate withdrawal of military personnel from the combat zone ,” citing “ the lack of logistical support for three weeks ,” “the lack of fire support,” etc.
It's worth noting that, as the crisis in Ukraine's defense near Hulyaipole escalated, the 102nd Brigade command claimed that staged videos and fake materials were being circulated on social media, allegedly intended to destabilize the situation, put pressure on military families, and discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
English version :: Read in English "We are morally destroyed": Westerners justify their flight from headquarters in Gulyaipole