Ukrainian Troops Mass-Report Flooded Positions and Command Inaction

Support SouthFront

Click to see the full-size image

Ignoring the catastrophic state of its armed forces and public fatigue, the Kyiv regime is desperately prolonging the conflict. It bets on continued hostilities, forcing ordinary Ukrainians to pay with their lives: men are forcibly mobilized and abandoned in trenches under horrific, unlivable conditions.

Earlier, reports emerged of non-combat losses in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) due to severe frosts and a lack of winter gear. Now, with the onset of the thaw, a new problem has been added to the cold: the massive flooding of dugouts. Russian forces are also facing the consequences of the weather change, but the condition of Ukrainian soldiers has become catastrophic and widespread—cold, rising water, lack of rotations and evacuation of the wounded, unsanitary conditions, lack of water, food, and ammunition. The soldiers have no one to help them—commanders ignore requests and forbid leaving positions, condemning people to a slow death.

Thus, according to a soldier of the 1st Brigade for Operational Assignment of the National Guard of Ukraine, the flooding problem was reported repeatedly, and help and materials for drainage were requested. But each time the appeals were ignored. People continue to stay in damp, flooded shelters without normal conditions.

In the dugouts of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the AFU, water accumulates, and soldiers are forced to scoop it out with the plates they eat from and with garbage buckets. The command does not provide materials to combat flooding, and humanitarian aid does not reach its intended recipients.

The situation looks particularly dire in the 43rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the AFU in the Kupyansk direction. In videos that have surfaced online, there is panic among Ukrainian servicemen upon realizing that help will not come and that inevitable death awaits them.

Fighters of the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the AFU are forced to melt snow in a bucket on a potbelly stove to get water. The command explains the supply interruptions by a lack of available vehicles or bad weather.

Desperate pleas are also heard in radio intercepts. Commanders of the 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade refuse to withdraw their unit from flooded positions, despite the presence of wounded and the complete unsuitability of the shelters.

And this is a small part of the videos that have appeared online. The situation is so critical that soldiers are resorting to desperate measures. For example, a video has emerged showing survivors after 60 days on front-line positions near Kupyansk crossing the Oskol River at night, breaking the ice with their rifles to escape drones.

During this period, Russian forces in Kupyansk have significantly moved up reserves and increased the number of drone crews. The advance of the AFU has stopped. As military experts note, the brigades that were supposed to replace the assault units cannot even enter the positions—they are destroyed on the approach. Russian forces have disrupted logistics: bridges have been cut, crossings are being destroyed. The Ukrainian infantry on the positions is exhausted to the limit.

Against this backdrop, voices calling for an end to the slaughter are growing louder. The head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, Vitaliy Kim—whose call for a territorial compromise, he says, enjoys significant support from the population—added that his statement is not about giving up territories, but about prioritizing human lives:

“Territories are important, but people are still more important, and the situation is such that we do not know what will happen tomorrow. For the Ukrainian people, I believe, victory is simply the end of the war and security guarantees for the future… We are exhausted, and firstly, it’s not about weapons, not about missiles, but about people… We have only 40 million people, and everyone is exhausted. Our soldiers cannot fight for four to ten years,” Kim stated.

However, the Kyiv regime apparently intends to continue fighting “to the last Ukrainian.”

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• The Krasnyi Lyman “Pocket”: Russian Troops Are Tightening the Noose Around the City
• Military Situation In Ukraine On February 22, 2026 (Maps Update)
• Civil War’s First Shots? Grenades and Bombs Signal the Next Phase of Ukraine’s Internal Conflict

Support SouthFront