As the counter-offensive stalled, Ukrainian military and political leaders sought to demonstrate any progress to their Western backers, The Washington Post reported.
A unit has been deployed to the Dnipro River crossing in a desperate attempt to hold a bridgehead in Krynky in the Kherson region. Dmytro, a 21-year-old Ukrainian marine, who is referred to only by his first name in accordance with Ukrainian military regulations, described how he crossed the “river of death.”
He said he was “tossed like a piece of meat to the wolves” during the crossing, which took 30 minutes to an hour. His story is corroborated by six other soldiers involved in the operation.
We bear many losses. We simply lose people, but there is no result.
Marines also reported wounded soldiers who drowned, were unable to swim due to their injuries or were dragged to the bottom of the river by their heavy backpacks, the newspaper wrote.
“The crossing was so dangerous that the bodies of some marines, killed in the first wave to cross the river two months ago, were left behind.”
The military recognises the lack of success. Capt. Natalya Humeniuk, head of the joint press centre of Ukraine’s Southern Defence Forces, said that “there are no liberated villages.”
The goal of Dmytro’s mission was to advance to Krynky, 20 miles upriver from Kherson. By 8 a.m., only 12 of the 30 Marines were unhurt, according to the publication. Two had died.
We couldn’t fight with people who had tourniquets on them. We had to wait for new people to replace the people who were injured.
With another dozen reinforcements, the Marines moved in line toward Krynky in the evening. Of the 45-man group that was thrown into the eastern bank, five were killed and another 20 were wounded, Dmytro reported.
