A Ukrainian soldier revealed the horrors of the frontline

It has been nearly two years since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine and it is hard to separate the individual human tragedy from the overall story of the war. Often people that forget millions of soldiers are fighting on the frontlines. 

However, few stories are told about the brave men and women who are defending their country from the existential threat of Russian domination. One of the most harrowing of these stories might be that of what’s happening around Krynky. 

Located on the left bank of the Dnipro River, Krynky is a small village on the outermost section of Kyiv’s bridgehead across the body of water, and it is part of a difficult struggle that has been unfolding for months since its capture by Ukraine. 

Little is known about the individual battles being fought in this exposed part of Ukraine’s frontline but a soldier stationed in the small village provided the world with some insight into what he faced while taking and holding this area of the front. 

The soldier spoke with BBC News journalists via a messaging app but his name wasn’t provided by the British news organization in its reporting to protect his identity, a rather important step considering the information the soldier provided. 

As one might assume, holding a bridgehead across a river isn’t an easy task and comes with a unique set of supply challenges. Chief among the problems was that any supplies needed across the Dnipro River needed to be ferried across it. 

That means that everything from the ammunition soldiers required to the food, fuel, and generators they needed had to be moved over the river. This wasn’t an easy task since the river crossings were under constant fire from Russian troops. 

"The entire river crossing is under constant fire. I've seen boats with my comrades on board just disappear into the water after being hit, lost forever to the Dnipro river,” the unnamed soldier explained, and that’s just the first big problem. 

When the soldiers took this area of the front the Russians knew they were coming. The group was trapped by mines and under constant fire from enemy artillery. However, the more worrying threat was that posed by Russian combat drones. 

"Every day we sat in the forest taking incoming fire. We were trapped… But their drones are constantly buzzing in the air, ready to strike as soon as they see movement,” stated the soldier, though other major problems were also very evident. 

One of the most interesting pieces of information the soldier shared with journalists was that nobody in his group knew the goals of their mission. He explained that they felt like they were abandoned by the high command while across the river. 

“No-one knows the goals. Many believe that the command simply abandoned us. The guys believe that our presence had more political than military significance. But we just did our job and didn't get into strategy,” the soldier told BBC News.

When it came to losses, the soldier explained that most of the casualties on the frontline were the result of mistakes like not getting into a trench quickly enough. But it wasn’t just Ukrainians taking damage, they were also dishing it out to the Russians. 

Ukrainian drones and missiles inflicted a lot of casualties on Russian soldiers defending the area and a lot of prisoners of war were captured. BBC journalist James Waterhouse noted that like most parts of the frontline, Krynky is a battle of attrition. 

The unnamed soldier explained that several brigades were supposed to be stationed in the area around Krynky but added only individual companies were there because there were not enough men available to be sent to that part of the frontline. 

"There are a lot of young guys among us. We need people, but trained people, not the green ones we have there now,” the soldier explained. “There are guys who had spent just three weeks in training, and only managed to shoot a few times.”

"It's a total nightmare. A year ago, I wouldn't have said that, but now, sorry, I'm fed up,” the soldier told the BBC. "Everyone who wanted to volunteer for war came a long time ago… Now we're getting those who didn't manage to escape the draft.”

The unnamed soldier was eventually injured while fighting across the Dnipro River. He told journalists: "I feel like I escaped from hell.” But his time to cross the river again was coming, he noted, “the next rotation is due.”