Dear Readers: Today I have a selection of 3 stories from the Russian online newspaper SILA.RU.
by from thefreeonline on May 17, 2024 by yalensis
The reporters are trying to figure out what is going on behind the scenes. Two of the stories rely on an anonymous source, a female resident of the Kharkov Oblast who secretly sends eye-witness reports to the Russian news outlet RIA.
According to this source: While the local population is split in their loyalties, a certain proportion of them are waiting, and hoping, for the Russian army to arrive. This is the main reason why they are resisting evacuation orders and remaining in their homes.
She notes that the local authorities are disorganized; and that whatever evacuations they do organize are rather haphazard.
There is actually no official process, all they do is just ineffectually urge the locals to leave. Systems have broken down, for the most part.
On this note, I have seen propaganda clips on the NATO
mainstream channels like BBC, ABC News, etc, showing scenes of residents and their dogs climbing into buses, terrified old ladies being assisted by kindly Kraken soldiers, etc.
Even those sources eventually get down to admitting that the numbers of evacuated are more like in the hundreds than thousands.
According to SILA, the official Ukrainian number is only 970 people total, evacuated by the authorities from the Kharkov Oblast.
Everybody else either left ontheir own means, or decided to stay.
According to this eyewitness, those who are able and have the means, mostly head for Poltava. Those who want to stay, just hunker down and wait for the Russian army to arrive.
Ukrainian Soldiers Drinking Too Much
According to this same anonymous source, Ukrainian soldiers that she sees in her region of Kharkov, have started to drink too much and are basically drunk all the time.
This alcohol makes them even more aggressive than they were before. Some of them have started threatening to march on Kiev and overthrow the government.
“There are fewer of them than before,” the eyewitness reports, “and they are retreating all the time. Some of them have started to dig defensive trenches out in the fields. Earlier they used to forcibly quarter themselves inside our homes.”
She herself was forced, at one point, to lodge six Ukrainian soldiers in her home. She learned later that only three of them have survived. The soldiers that she sees in her area took terrible, they look like ragtag impoverished beggars roaming the streets like lost cats.
Their officers have fled, and nobody is there to take care of these young men.
Border Detachment Officer Saved From Blocking
The next story, by reporter Alyona Zhilina, is about a Ukrainian Officer named Lyubimir Gorokhonenko, whose life was saved by Russian soldiers in Volchansk. Gorokhonenko is the Deputy Commander of a Ukrainian border detachment operating on the Russo-Ukrainian border. Stationed in the northern part of Volchansk, his unit came under heavy Russian artillery fire.
He radioed in to the Ukrainian command, requesting an automobile for evacuation.
His request was refused. Together with his remaining troops, Gorokhonenko decided to evacuate on foot. They were attacked by Ukrainian “blocking troops” trying to stop them from retreating.
Gorokhonenko himself took bullets in his arms and legs. As he lay there wounded along the side of the road, he was eventually spotted by Russians soldiers driving by in a car.
He waved to the car, and they stopped for him. After he surrendered to the Russians they took him back to their position, gave him the medical treatment he needed, and also fed him a meal.
On the media level western reports are cryingf pabic rthatr evil Ryussia is aiming to seoze karekov. However reliable Telegram analysts and later Russian MoD said only 15% of available troops had attacked in small groups. Even the BBC reported the Russians “just walked in” because the contracted Defense Line was MISSING, the funds having been stolen.
The consensus was that the Russians kept going further than intended but there is no sign yet of a Grand Offensive.
The Free 