Russian Soldiers Huddle In Frozen Crater – Cell phone footage recorded by Russian soldiers shows just how tough life is in the frozen trenches in Ukraine.
What We Know
In the clip, soldiers can be seen lying down in a snow-covered trench, with barely enough equipment and clothing to keep them sufficiently warm.
The clip appears to have been recorded in Vuhledar, where a Donetsk Oblast town that has seen some of the worst fighting of the war.
At the beginning of the video, a Russian soldier explains that the hole is not in fact a trench, but a crater created by an artillery strike.
“Greetings everyone, I’m in a crater,” the soldier tells the camera.
The man turns the camera to another soldier, who is huddling on the side of the crater, and explains how he had saved the man from the battlefield.
“Saved Andryuha from Dzhida, he’s been wounded in the leg for two days now,” the man says, adding that he had bandaged the wound and administered an injection.
According to the War Translated Twitter account, the injured man was lucky to escape the tank, but his leg had been crushed.
“Russian tankmen send regards from Vuhledar against the backdrop of their dying tank and wounded Andryuha, who has been lying on the side of the road for two days. Everyone is lucky, except for the leg and the tank. Both were crushed,” the account writes.
In the clip, the soldier clearly expressed frustration with the situation in Vuhledar, and with the lack of support from the rest of the Russian military.
“My f**king crew is resting here,” the soldier says.
The camera then pans to a burning object in the distance, which the camera operator says was his tank burning out.
He predicted that after roughly 30 minutes of burning, the ammunition stored within the tank would begin blowing up too.
“In about 30 minutes, the ammo will start blowing up. Mortar bombs flying…it arrived, alright,” he says, before going on to describe a dire situation on the frontlines.
“Big greetings to everyone straight from the frontline. First-hand evidence of what’s happening here. It is a f*ckfest,” the soldier says.
Russia Loses Huge Tank Battle In Vuhledar
The New York Times reports this week that farms and fields throughout Vuhledar are now littered with the remains of Russian tanks and military vehicles after Ukrainian forces successfully bombarded invading forces.
“In the extended battle, both sides sent tanks into the fray, rumbling over dirt roads and manoeuvring around tree lines, with the Russians thrusting forward in columns and the Ukrainians manoeuvring defensively, firing from a distance or from hideouts as Russian convoys came into their sights,” The Times reports.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russia lost as many as 130 tanks and armored personnel carriers in the recent conflict.
The footage does contain graphic materials and adult language. Due to this, we have not embedded the video. However, you can go to Twitter to see it here.
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