The battles around Dovhenke continued as the Russians attempted to push further south. The Ukrainians were dug in to the south in a network of trenches. Although poorly armed, they were rotated every 3 days and were far better motivated than the exhausted Russians.
Full-scale invasion and national resilience, broadcasted live.
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Russian soldiers’ pointless operations support false claims of village capture
26/ Such apparently pointless operations may have been intended to support local Russian commanders' claims that the village had been captured, in another example of the institutionalised lying that has been noted before. One Russian soldier told his mother:
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Broken promise, shelling of own wounded, rescue by Ukraine
25/ "The [commanders] said that they would come back for us, but as a result, shelling began at night. Our [side] shelled this village. They knew that [our] wounded remained there, and then the Armed Forces of Ukraine took us out, rescued the wounded – those who could not move."
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Russian soldier describes deployment to Dovhenke with 70 troops
23/ The Russians continued to throw more troops into the battle, likely losing hundreds more men. One Russian soldier, Denis Votinov, who served with the 488th Motorized Rifle Regiment, says that in early May he was sent to Dovhenke with 70 other Russian soldiers.
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Failed attack: wounded commander given grenade, three Russians dead
21/ The plan of attack quickly failed. The unit's wounded commander was left in the village with a grenade to blow himself up. Three Russians were killed and every surviving Russian combatant was wounded.
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Ukrainian resistance thwarts Russian advance
On 20/ fierce Ukrainian resistance pinned the Russians down and forced them to retreat. According to a Russian source, "The tank had not even begun to engage Ukrainian positions, and the BMP only distinguished itself by shelling its own side."
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Volunteers appoint hardened veterans to lead assault on Dovhenke
18/ Some volunteers continued to attack. "There were no more officers so they were picking the most hardened ones among the volunteers (ones who fought in Chechnya and Syria), appointed them as seniors, gave them radios and sent them to assault Dovhenke."
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Soldiers tell political officer they’d rather die than be remotivated
17/ The 752nd Regiment's political officer tried to 'remotivate' the troops by firing an assault rifle at their feet. Instead, they shouted back: "Let them shoot! – it’s better to die here, at least the complete body will be passed to relatives so they could bury us properly".
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Russian troops refuse suicidal orders at Dovhenke
16/ The repeated disasters devastated Russian morale. Shayga says that "almost everyone" from his unit refused orders to continue attacking Dovhenke, as did the spetsnaz, airborne troops and Wagner mercenaries. They saw the orders as suicidal.
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Ukrainian artillery inflicts most losses
On 15 May, Ukrainian artillery caused the overwhelming majority of the casualties. Newly recruited soldiers were immediately thrown into the attack on Dovhenke upon arrival in Ukraine. By May, all of the officers had either been killed, wounded, or were refusing to attack.