An ATO fighter told how the 30th brigade died: the command fled, four thousand soldiers were “lost”
Berdichev, August 20 (Navigator, Victoria Litovchenko) – A serviceman from the 30th brigade told how his colleagues died in the ATO zone.
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As fighter Igor, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Berdichev Business publication, he was drafted into the army in Berdichev in March.
“For ten days, for retraining. From Berdichev they were sent to Novograd, to the 30th brigade. There they were engaged in fire training - 12 rounds per day, and so on for two weeks. Then there were exercises together with the 26th brigade, then to the war,” he told the publication.
“At the end of July, the entire brigade was gathered together and sent to the village of Solnechnoye, Donetsk region. There we repaired, refueled, replenished ammunition and went to the village of Stepanovka, Donetsk region. Stepanovka had already been liberated, but the Terrans fired at it with mortars. On the first day, the brigade lost three people from mortar fire. We settled in basements and cellars, the service began,” the fighter recalls, admitting that he will remember the events of August 12 for the rest of his life.
“He remembered the conversation between two artillerymen from a battery of self-propelled guns in the morning a few hours before the disaster: “Kolya, this is some kind of f.... We shoot and don’t change positions, but they will cover us.” “Go tell the commander, he’s already wised up and received a kickback from the command. They told me to stand here,” the interlocutor replied. In war, all rules are written in the blood of dead soldiers. And if teams go against the rules, the soldier’s instinct is to start working and expect the worst,” the publication writes.
Igor was sent on reconnaissance: having moved three to four kilometers away from the positions of the Ukrainian military, he discovered a standing tank column of 18 T-90 tanks. Intelligence asked for shelling by contacting the command. “The tanks stood there for about an hour, but there was no shelling. Moreover, infantry drove up to the tanks in Kamaz vehicles, and the troops began to disperse,” the soldier said.
“Tanks and infantry began to surround the village - the scouts once again contacted the command and reported on the situation - 30 Kamaz vehicles with people and 21 T-90 tanks. This time, the command reacted (Igor later learned this from the surviving soldiers) - they left the not yet encircled Stepanovka, leaving one staff officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel,” the publication writes, based on the words of the serviceman.
“At about 10 pm the disaster began. The village and the location of the troops were covered by a missile tornado. “The Grads dug up the positions of the 30th brigade for more than two hours, and then tanks and infantry went to clear the village,” Igor said.
“During the attack, 18 tanks of the brigade were completely destroyed, a battery of self-propelled guns and other armored vehicles were completely destroyed. And all the brigade’s equipment in Solnechny turned out to be two tanks, knocked out, but miraculously able to move, and a BRM. A lot of people died,” the fighter said. According to him, the remnants of the brigade were sent to Saur-Mogila, where the destruction of the brigade continued.
“Then the survivors were given the command to move to Novograd, to the brigade’s location “to count and compile lists of the living.” Calculated. Of the 4500 soldiers and officers, 83 ended up in Novograd-Volynsk, about 500 more in different places of Ukraine, mainly repairmen, doctors, snipers... Where the rest are, the father commanders will find out,” writes Berdichev Business, noting that about the fate Almost four thousand soldiers and officers of the 30th brigade are still unknown.
As Navigator reported, earlier the militia stated that the 30th brigade was completely destroyed near Stepanovka, being surrounded.
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