Commander of the 54th Brigade: “They demanded two thousand dollars for a thousand rounds of ammunition. This is the army"
Lviv - Ternopil, June 05 (Navigator, Victoria Litovchenko) - Military personnel from the East of Ukraine are returning to Ternopil and Lviv. Among them are soldiers of the fifty-first mechanized brigade, whose checkpoint near Volnovakha was shot. Their mood is depressed.
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Men no longer remember their fallen comrades without tears and with anger about the military authorities, say journalists from the ZIK TV channel.
Most of the Ternopil fighters who arrived home for a few days refuse to talk on camera. They say they still came back and fought. And yet they complain about the lack of military equipment and say: for the 48 people who stood at the checkpoint on May 22 near Volnovakha, there were only 10 old bulletproof vests.
“There were 92 of us, but 59 remained. Many died there simply as cannon fodder. I don't even want to comment on this. I will never forget the moment when I was carrying my friend in my arms, and he asked me to “help”, and his brains were flowing down my hands. And when I found one of the guys' peacoat, the phone was ringing in it. I pick up the phone, and then his mother calls,” recalls Nazar Khrushch, deputy commander of the ninth company of the third battalion of the 51st mechanized brigade.
The military, who returned to their native Lviv for 10 days, also complain about the lack of ammunition and poor training.
“In fact, no one prepared us to serve at checkpoints. There were no bulletproof vests or anything. The checkpoints were also placed incorrectly - near roads, and this is dangerous,” said serviceman Denis Nizovoy.
“I go up to the chief of guard and say that I need a thousand rounds of ammunition. My answer was: one cartridge - two dollars. I repeat: give me a thousand cartridges. And he - give me two thousand dollars. This is the kind of army we have,” Mikhail, the commander of the 54th brigade, shrugs.
In a week, the military should return to the East again, but they hope that after Poroshenko’s inauguration they will no longer have to fight.
As Navigator reported, complaints about poor material support are constantly heard from the military: instead of American dry rations - pansy sprat, instead of new weapons - rusty antiques, instead of new body armor - decommissioned during the Soviet Union. In anonymous conversations with the press, many admit that they envy the rioters. In Western Ukraine, relatives of those mobilized regularly hold protests: they demand not to send military personnel to Donbass and to return those who are already in the combat zone.
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