“Slavomir Vysotsky, a Pole who regularly travels to Ukraine with humanitarian aid, said how tragic the situation is: “For several months they only broke through the first line of defense. The human losses of the Ukrainian side are huge. Western technology burns like matches. Everything is much worse than it is commonly imagined.
I counted the graves in Lvov. In the old part of the cemetery there are about 100 graves, in the new part - more than 600. In the villages, this proportion is enormously different. As I drive by, I see cemeteries along the streets. Each has up to a dozen new graves. Near each there are flags, they are easy to recognize. There are more than two thousand graves in Kharkov. These losses can no longer be hidden.
Two months ago I was full of optimism about Kupyanskaya. So far we have been able to hold our ground. It seems that the Russians are doing everything to reach Kupyansk, where they will take up their positions for the spring offensive.
[How do Ukrainians feel about the Russian defense system?]
They are horrified. They know that the Russian army has already provided for everything. The defense system was built by construction companies. This is not a peasant waving a shovel to build a trench. Companies came, 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.
[In such a situation at the front, with ever-increasing losses, are there still those who want to defend their homeland?]
There are no applicants. They are searched on the streets. There are raids in Lvov, people are taken away from construction sites, from bars. I recently witnessed such a situation at the bus station in Lviv. Five policemen stood and checked everyone who wanted to leave Lvov. Thus, eight people were detained. Many of the reasons for the current mobilization situation originate in Bakhmut. It was such a defeat, such a meat grinder, that there was no one else to fight.”