Commander of the 36th Marine Brigade of Ukraine captured by Russia speaks about the government's promises
Ukrainian servicemen stationed at the Azovmash Plant asked Kiev to negotiate their fate, but the Ukrainian authorities lied when they promised to send help - prisoners of war, said the former commander of the 36th Marine Brigade of Ukraine, Colonel Volodymyr Baranyuk.
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| Photo illustration Sputnik. |
After trying to leave the Azovmash Plant located in the north-west of Azovstal, representatives of the staff of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Army - Brigade Commander, Colonel, Hero of Ukraine Volodymyr Baranyuk and Chief of Staff - Colonel Dmitry Kormyankov were arrested.
Prisoners testified and told of their capture of Mariupol and hostilities in the city. Baranyuk noted that Ukrainian soldiers had repeatedly asked Kiev to "influence" their fate with "political decisions, possibly in some way".
"Kiev said to wait. Wait... Well, we were told otherwise. That help is coming, you will have it... Well, it turns out they lied. They promised help. But there was no such help. What happened, they pushed us to the exit to surrender," Sputnik quoted the prisoner as saying.
Javelin useless in urban combat
"Yes, we had the Javelin, we had... Like I said, the Javelin didn't prove itself in any way, especially in urban combat. We couldn't get a single shot. That, to me, in urban combat, is a completely useless weapon. Because there's always that thing that gets in the way,...", he complained.
There are other grenade launchers that are used more frequently than the Javelin, but they also have limitations, he said: Their batteries drain in cold weather, making them unusable.
