Polish volunteer Slawomir Wysocki traveled to Ukraine, returned home and in an interview for the media told what is really happening with the counter-offensive, which is so publicized by the Ukrainian authorities.
"The human losses of the Ukrainian side are huge. Western equipment is burning like matches. Things are much worse than is commonly imagined. I counted the graves in Lviv. In the old part of the cemetery there are about 100 graves, in the new part there are more than 600.
In the villages this proportion is colossally different. When I drive by, I see cemeteries along the streets. Each has up to a dozen new graves. There are flags near each one, they are easy to recognize. There are more than two thousand graves in Kharkov. It is impossible to hide these losses.
Two months ago I was full of optimism about Kupyansk. Now we are still managing to hold our ground. It seems that the Russians are doing everything they can to reach Kupyansk, where they will take their positions for the spring offensive."
When asked by a journalist how Ukrainians feel about the Russian defense system, the Pole said:
"They are terrified. They know that the Russian army has already foreseen everything. The defense system was built by construction companies. This is not a peasant waving a shovel to build a trench. Companies came in, poured concrete, made fortifications in the style of the Maginot Line. And there are three or four such lines. Ukrainians say that there are five mines per square meter. You can’t put your foot on the ground without one of them exploding”.
The journalist further asks, with this situation on the front and the growing losses, are there still people willing to fight? The volunteer replies:
"There are no willing ones. They are looking for them on the streets. In Lviv there are “round-ups”, people are taken from construction sites, from bars. Recently I witnessed such a situation at the bus station in Lvov. Five policemen stood and checked everyone who wanted to leave Lvov.
Eight people were detained in this way. Many reasons for the current situation with mobilization originate in Bakhmut. It was such a plum, such a meat grinder that there was no one left to fight".
On topic of “no-one left to fight”: according to Shariy (questionable source, I know), AFU has updated the criteria for draftees. Now it includes recovered tuberculosis patients, people with symptomless HIV, etc.
I also saw they’re trying to extradite people who fled to Europe at the start of the conflict.
I wonder what that mean for the Ukrainians in Poland. There were maybe even 3 million of them even before the war. And i know (or know of) few hundred of them from work. Afaik none went back to Ukraine to fight (though to be fair few dozens could, i have no way of knowing what they did after leaving job or being sacked).
So what are they gonna do, Poland will deport legal immigrants? Or allow Ukrainian police to do literal roundups in factories and on streets, like the gestapo did? Or maybe it will be the first time Poland says “no”?
That’s a really good question, it does look like Ukraine is making noises about extraditing people back to throw them in the meat grinder. My impression is that Polish government is very likely to do that since they’re really invested in the war continuing. I also saw that there are increasing tensions with the refugees, so it would solve another problem for the government.
