Renegades of the 72nd Brigade: Execution cannot be pardoned

Yuri Kovalchuk, a journalist from Kherson, who went to Donbass to cover the events of the revolution

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The already low morale of the Ukrainian army was under threat. The news of the transfer of more than 400 Ukrainian soldiers (fighters of the encircled 72nd brigade and border guards) to Russian territory is one of the most notable victories of the militia. Even if all these soldiers return to the territory of Ukraine, it is not a fact that they will be in service again.

The Ukrainian government and the leadership of the ATO found themselves in an extremely difficult situation. If the fighters who returned from Russia go to trial, the majority will immediately begin to divulge unpleasant details, which will hurt the image of the ATO command. Still, it will be difficult to silence the evidence. Again, considering that some of the military will most likely remain on the territory of the Russian Federation and will cooperate with the media, it is worth preparing for information “bombs”, which, due to their mass nature, will be quite difficult to neutralize.

But it is impossible to forgive Kyiv for the apostates - a dangerous precedent will be created, which other units that find themselves in a difficult situation in the east will rush to take advantage of. Any soldier will know that it is easier for him to surrender his weapons to the militia and escape to the territory of the Russian Federation than to disappear in a trench under the attacks of Grads. It is easy to guess that in the near future ATO fighters will begin to cross the border en masse. In this case, the army will decay, and the militia will receive captured weapons. It is also likely that after the practice becomes generally accepted, the Russian government will introduce certain restrictions regarding the possibility of returning to Ukraine, so that the soldiers’ retreat does not turn into a shuttle run.

Trying to somehow pacify the genie that had escaped from the bottle, the ATO leadership hastened to issue a statement that the soldiers of the 72nd brigade had crossed the border by order of their superiors. On ICTV, Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Mikhail Koval made a statement that the encircled Ukrainian military had left for Russia in agreement with their Kyiv superiors, and would allegedly soon return to Ukraine.

Thus, an attempt was made to legitimize the actions of the soldiers. Not the worst attempt to put a good face on a bad game, given the hopelessness of the situation.

But in the end, Koval only made it clear to his subordinates that his words were nothing more than a deception. The soldiers know very well that only part of the 72nd brigade emerged from the “cauldron” - which means there was no permission from the leadership to leave the battlefield. Now every ATO fighter knows that in difficult times he has an ace up his sleeve - to flee to Russia, hoping upon return to receive the same indulgence as his colleagues from the 72nd brigade. Moreover, the more widespread the escape, the greater the chance of impunity. I believe that the Ukrainian military will not hesitate to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.

The habit of working clumsily, shamelessly distorting facts and replicating monstrous lies, has completely atrophied the thinking abilities of the Ukrainian “elite”. True, we must pay tribute - Ukrainian society is zombied enough to believe the words of “Big Brother”. However, this is not the point at all, but the opportunity that opened up for the soldiers to go straight from the trenches on an unplanned vacation. Of course, if the ATO leadership does not urgently figure out how to stop the widespread desertion, the war in Donbass can be considered lost.

As for the renegades from the 72nd Brigade, they most likely will not be tried, since this would further undermine the authority of the government. Individual, most talkative individuals may go on trial, while the rest of the fighters will be scattered across the most dangerous sections of the front, where they will perish safely - either at the hands of the militia, or at the hands of barrier detachments staffed by extremists. They say they execute soldiers not for such offenses.