“This is shocking news to hear that he has succumbed to his injuries. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.Pune/Mumbai: As the news of former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe assassination trickled in, Japanese nationals living in Mumbai were left distraught. haven't reached some troops on the eastern front. We reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense to ask why weapons sent by the U.S. I don't believe in our politicians.īLOCK: We heard first from Pavlo Mazouk and then a commander who asked to be identified only as Breeze. I can't say when it will end.īLOCK: And if there ended up being some sort of negotiated settlement, would that be acceptable, do you think?īREEZE: (Through interpreter) I don't believe in our politics. I saw a different picture when there were a lot of people, lots of weapons, lots of mines, lots of shells, lots of tanks. How do you see this ending?īREEZE: (Through interpreter) You can read in the news that Russia has bad weapons, that they don't have enough bombs, that they don't have enough shells. It's gone on for months now, and there have been huge losses on both sides. This is a different war than it was before.īLOCK: I wonder how you see this war ending. They couldn't even get out of the trenches. When we had the last battle, my soldiers were shelled by artillery almost all night. Now the war is more between artillery - the artillery of Russia and our artillery. Those people who fought in 2014, 2015, say the war has changed radically. ![]() In any case, we need to level the front line, and then we need competent command and good artillery cover because the war has changed. If Russia is able to take control of that city, do you think your side - do you think Ukrainian forces can stop them from pushing the battle lines further and further into Ukrainian territory?īREEZE: (Through interpreter) I see no reason to hold Lysychansk now since it's practically encircled anyway. That's what I heard.īLOCK: We know the fighting now is centered on the city of Lysychansk. I heard but didn't see that these weapons are in the south. Here, you need to understand that the front line is very large, and we don't see and don't know how much weapons were allocated to everyone. They promised us, but unfortunately they didn't manage to deliver it to us.īLOCK: Were you given any explanation for why those did not come?īREEZE: (Through interpreter) It's hard to explain. We tried to get the Stinger, but it was very difficult to get them to give us one. Have any of those made it to your unit?īREEZE: (Through interpreter) No, unfortunately, I haven't seen it in person. I don't take into account shellshocked soldiers.īLOCK: Have you seen any of the new weapons that the United States has been sending to Ukraine? We've been hearing about sophisticated weapons systems, rocket launchers, things like that. The deeper they were, the safer it was for us.īREEZE: (Through interpreter) From the whole unit - a unit consists of 100 people - we had 20 people wounded. It was just a forest, some trees, then a shovel and deep trenches. ![]() In fact, compared to them, we were naked.īLOCK: Breeze says he and his fighters held a position in a wooded area near Severodonetsk, largely relying on the depth of their trenches to stay alive.īREEZE: (Through interpreter) It's the position that we had. He asked to be identified only as Breeze (ph) because he said he's sharing information that is seen as sensitive by the Ukrainian military.īREEZE: (Through interpreter) Kalashnikovs and hand grenade launchers - these are the weapons that we had with us. Then they take a break, and then they start again half an hour later.īLOCK: Mazouk said the bottom line is Ukrainian forces are being outgunned by Russian forces, and that's also what we heard from a Ukrainian commander who's been leading fighters in the eastern region. They start heavy artillery shooting, and then soldiers come in. PAVLO MAZOUK: (Through interpreter) It's pretty much all the time. We reached out to two men who've been fighting on the front lines, one a volunteer fighter named Pavlo Mazouk (ph), who described being under harrowing, nonstop Russian assault in the village of Bilohorivka. The city of Severodonetsk in the eastern part of the country recently fell to the Russians, leaving only one last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the region, the city of Lysychansk. Still, there are questions about whether that aid has been reaching places where it's needed most. ![]() At the end of the NATO summit, the Pentagon announced an additional $820 million in security assistance for Ukraine.
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