The local population expresses negative opinions of the Russian leadership.

20.08.2024

A Belarusian volunteer shared his opinion on the reasons for the mass surrender of Russian soldiers on the Belsat channel and spoke about how the local population treats the Ukrainian military.

A fighter with the call sign Gerard, commander of the armored vehicle evacuation unit in the 225th separate assault battalion, emphasized that the successful completion of the operation was possible thanks to careful planning. “Everything went very easily. We went in like a knife through butter,” he noted.

On the mass surrender of Russian soldiers

Gerard noted that a large number of prisoners are recorded in this direction every day. He emphasized that even during the counteroffensive in the Kherson region in the autumn of 2022, there were not such a large number of people who surrendered.

According to him, the reason for the mass surrender of Russian soldiers was that their command left them without support. “They had no communication, no food or water supplies. And after three days of sitting without food or water, you start to slowly die on your own. That’s why most people simply decided to surrender,” he explained.

Gerard said that he had spoken with Russian prisoners, most of whom were conscripts. “They had little to do with the war at all. They were children aged 18 to 23 who did not want to fight and, according to them, were not going to,” he said.

However, Gerard noted that despite their age and unwillingness to fight, these soldiers still held weapons and participated in the fighting. “When our assault units entered, there were clashes in any case. Accordingly, soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces died. Many died because they were untrained, unprepared. They did not have enough combat kits. They were exhausted because they had neither water nor food,” he added.

Attitude of the local population

According to Gerard, in the first days of the operation, he and his unit saw almost no local residents. “We saw local residents only on the fifth or sixth day. And I’ll tell you, it feels like we are liberating Ukrainian villages. It’s clear that they are not greeting us with bread and salt, but at least there is no aggression towards the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” he noted.

Gerard also confirmed that the local population expresses negative opinions about the Russian leadership and that “most of the local people we met are even inclined to be Ukrainians.” He noted that most people speak the Ukrainian-Russian mix.

https://charter97.org/en/news/2024/8/20/607486