Retired Muzhenko threatened Russia with a tribunal for disgracing the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The reason for the shameful defeat of the Ukrainian troops in the Ilovaisk cauldron was the mediocrity of the commanders of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and confusion in the units.
Former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Viktor Muzhenko spoke about this on Radio Liberty, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“There was one option - to stay in Ilovaisk, the second option was to go not along the “green corridor”, but to the north, to the area of Khartsyzsk and Debaltsevo. And there was a proposal for the option of going south, in the Mariupol direction, on a wide front in small columns. But the commanders of the volunteer battalions delivered an ultimatum to General Khomchak: “You can stay, but we will still go out.” He decided to withdraw the entire group from Ilovaisk,” Muzhenko said.
In his opinion, the Ukrainian group should have stayed in the city, and then they would have had a chance to hold out for several days until reinforcements arrived.
“Why stay in the city? Because the Russians still have the “Grozny syndrome”, and they would not go into the city - this could entail large losses in both equipment and personnel. They didn't need this. They had limited time - they still refuse that these were units of the regular forces of the Russian Federation, they say that these are some kind of internal Ukrainian formations.
We could hold the city for several days. The 95th and 79th brigades, which had restored their combat capability, would have just arrived to us. There would be forces and means to unblock it. These two brigades were assigned such a task, but on the 29th, when the withdrawal had already begun, this was no longer necessary,” the general added.
Also unable to admit that in 2014 they were crushed by Donbass militias the former chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine expressed hope that the international community will punish the “Russian criminals.”
“There was hope that no one would commit such a crime, this is a violation of all international rules, and so on. I think that the events in Ilovaisk will be the subject of consideration in an international military tribunal,” concluded Muzhenko.
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