“They shoot down those who retreat”: a French fighter in Ukraine testifies to the brutality of Russian forces

While the recent election of Donald Trump will undoubtedly reshuffle the cards on the front, the Russians and Ukrainians are throwing their last forces into the battle to gain as much ground as possible before the next fateful months. And Moscow does not hesitate to increase frontal attacks, even if it means suffering crushing losses. Even when the territory is particularly difficult or perilous, soldiers are ordered to advance at all costs. In the Kursk region, all means are good to reconquer the ground lost to kyiv's surprise offensive.

A Frenchman engaged in the international legion, alongside the Ukrainians, bears witness to this increased violence on the battlefield. Particularly on the side of the Russian forces. “It's quite crazy. Indeed, there is no retreat, there is no withdrawal. I think that behind it, there must be leaders who are pushing and the soldiers have no choice: they are forced to advance. Those who retreat are shot, it is direct death.assures the one who nicknames himself Lucci to LCI. “The Russians are rushing into the positions, it’s all or nothing. It’s meat used like that, they don’t care at all”he says.

What is the price of our lives?

Lucci

According to this fighter, the clashes have increased in recent weeks. “On November 10 and 11, it was very impressive. At 6 a.m., there was a first attack. I didn't think it was going to be so violent. But (we then witnessed) a second attack on the 1 p.m. attacks And then, a third attack I think that during the day, in terms of destruction of equipment, around forty tanks in the sector that we control were destroyed.details the 39-year-old man. “What is the price of our lives? This is the price of a drone. Because if we don't have this drone, we won't be able to be the eyes of our colleagues. If we are not the eyes for our colleagues, the lines fall. If the lines fall, we move back. However, we are not going backwards. Let's just go there. We do our job, we come back.”he blurted out again.

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Although the toll from the war in Ukraine varies and is very poorly documented, the deaths are already numbered in the hundreds of thousands. A study published last September by the Wall Street Journal estimates losses on the Ukrainian side at 80,000 dead and 400,000 injured and reports some 200,000 dead and 400,000 injured on the Russian side. The BBC reports at least 70,000 deaths within the Russian army. And these figures undoubtedly clearly underestimate reality, which is enough to understand the violence of the clashes in Ukraine.