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Ukrainian troopers combating in Russia’s Kursk area have described scenes “like a horror film” as they retreated from the entrance strains.

The BBC has acquired in depth accounts from Ukrainian troops, who recount a “catastrophic” withdrawal within the face of heavy fireplace, and columns of navy gear destroyed and fixed assaults from swarms of Russian drones.

The troopers, who spoke over social media, got aliases to guard their identification. Some gave accounts of a “collapse” as Ukraine misplaced Sudzha, the most important city it held.

Ukrainian restrictions on journey to the entrance have meant it isn’t potential to get a full image of the state of affairs. However that is how 5 Ukrainian troopers described to us what had occurred.

On 9 March, “Volodymyr” despatched a telegram publish to the BBC saying he was nonetheless in Sudzha, the place there was “panic and collapse of the entrance”.

Ukrainian troops “are attempting to depart – columns of troops and gear. A few of them are burned by Russian drones on the highway. It’s inconceivable to depart in the course of the day.”

Motion of males, logistics and gear had been reliant on one main route between Sudzha and Ukraine’s Sumy area.

Volodymyr mentioned it was potential to journey on that highway comparatively safely a month in the past. By 9 March it was “all beneath the fireplace management of the enemy – drones across the clock. In a single minute you’ll be able to see two to a few drones. That is lots,” he mentioned.

“We have now all of the logistics right here on one Sudzha-Sumy freeway. And everybody knew that the [Russians] would attempt to reduce it. However this once more got here as a shock to our command.”

On the time of writing, simply earlier than Russia retook Sudzha, Volodymyr mentioned Ukrainian forces have been being pressed from three sides.

By 11 March, Ukrainian forces have been battling to stop the highway being reduce, in response to telegram messages from “Maksym”.

“A couple of days in the past, we acquired an order to depart the defence strains in an organised retreat,” he mentioned, including that Russia had amassed a major drive to retake the city, “together with giant numbers of North Korean troopers”.

Army specialists estimate Russia had amassed a drive of as much as 70,000 troops to retake Kursk – together with round 12,000 North Koreans.

Russia had additionally despatched its finest drone models to the entrance and had was utilizing kamikaze and first-person-view (FPV) variants to “take fireplace management of the primary logistics routes”.

They included drones linked to operators by fibre-optic wires – that are inconceivable to jam with digital countermeasures.

Maksym mentioned because of this “the enemy managed to destroy dozens of models of kit”, and that wrecks had “created congestion on provide routes”.

The state of affairs on that day, 11 March, was described as “catastrophic” by “Anton”.

The third soldier spoken to by the BBC was serving within the headquarters for the Kursk entrance.

He too highlighted the harm attributable to Russian FPV drones. “We used to have a bonus in drones, now we don’t,” he mentioned. He added that Russia had a bonus with extra correct air strikes and a better variety of troops.

Anton mentioned provide routes had been reduce. “Logistics now not work – organised deliveries of weapons, ammunition, meals and water are now not potential.”

Anton mentioned he managed to depart Sudzha by foot, at night time – “We virtually died a number of occasions. Drones are within the sky on a regular basis.”

The soldier predicted Ukraine’s complete foothold in Kursk can be misplaced however that “from a navy viewpoint, the Kursk course has exhausted itself. There is no such thing as a level in maintaining it any extra”.

Western officers estimate that Ukraine’s Kursk offensive concerned round 12,000 troops. They have been a few of their finest skilled troopers, geared up with western-supplied weapons together with tanks and armoured autos.

Russian bloggers revealed movies exhibiting a few of that gear being destroyed or captured. On 13 March, Russia mentioned the state of affairs in Kursk was “absolutely beneath our management” and that Ukraine had “deserted” a lot of its materiel.

In social media posts on 11-12 March, a fourth solider, “Dmytro” likened the retreat from the entrance to “a scene from a horror film”.

“The roads are affected by lots of of destroyed automobiles, armoured autos and ATVs (All Terrain Automobiles). There are a whole lot of wounded and useless.”

Automobiles have been usually hunted by a number of drones, he mentioned.

He described his personal slender escape when the automotive he was travelling in bought slowed down. He and his fellow troopers have been attempting to push the automobile free after they have been focused by one other FPV drone.

It missed the automobile, however injured one in every of his comrades. He mentioned they needed to conceal in a forest for 2 hours earlier than they have been rescued.

Dmytro mentioned many Ukrainians retreated on foot with “guys strolling 15km to 20km”. The state of affairs, he mentioned, had turned from “tough and significant to catastrophic”.

In a message on 14 March, Dmytro added: “Every part is completed within the Kursk area… the operation was not profitable.”

He estimated that hundreds of Ukrainian troopers had died for the reason that first crossing into Russia in August.

A fifth soldier sounded much less gloomy in regards to the state of affairs. On 13 March, “Artem” despatched a telegram message from a navy hospital, the place he was being handled for shrapnel wounds suffered in a drone assault.

Artem mentioned he had been combating additional west – close to the village of Loknya the place Ukrainian forces have been placing up a stiff resistance and “combating like lions”.

He believed the operation had achieved some success.

“It is necessary that to this point the Armed Forces of Ukraine have created this buffer zone, because of which the Russians can’t enter Sumy,” he mentioned.

Ukraine’s high common, Oleksandr Syrskyi, insists that Ukrainian forces have pulled again to “extra beneficial positions”, stay in Kursk and would achieve this “for so long as it’s expedient and obligatory”.

He mentioned Russia had suffered greater than 50,000 losses in the course of the operation – together with these killed, injured or captured.

Nevertheless, the state of affairs now may be very totally different to final August. Army analysts estimate two-thirds of the 1,000 sq/km gained on the outset have since been misplaced.

Any hopes that Ukraine would be capable of commerce Kursk territory for a few of its personal have considerably diminished.

Final week, President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned he believed the Kursk operation had “completed its job” by forcing Russia to tug troops from the east and relieve stress on Pokrovsk.

However it isn’t but clear at what value.