Notes found by Russian soldiers show fear at the front. ‘It’s like roulette’

The notes, briefings and other documents, More than a thousand of which the Reuters news agency investigated were found in a military headquarters in Balaklia, a town about 90 kilometers from Kharkiv. The Russians fled here with their tails between their legs in September during the Ukrainian army’s unexpectedly successful offensive in the northeast.

The papers, and conversations with residents and five Russian soldiers who served in Balaklia, provide insight into a war that the media can only sparsely report on. Especially the missile attacks with the American Himars system, which led to a turnaround in the war, caused great panic among the Russians. In the weeks leading up to the humiliating Russian retreat, the Ukrainians began targeting the Russian military in and around Balaklia with the precision missiles. Command posts in particular were an important target.

“It’s like roulette,” a Russian officer said of the constant fear of the precision attacks. He was stationed in the area for three months and lost a friend, who bled to death after an attack on a command center in a neighboring village. “You’re either lucky or unlucky,” he told Reuters. “The grenades could land anywhere.”

Overrun

Twelve Russians were killed in a Himars attack in July. Three days earlier, the Russian intelligence service FSB had warned that the Ukrainians had moved three Himars systems into the area. After this successful attack, Russian morale hit rock bottom.

The documents, including a staff officer’s notebook, confirm the stories that have been circulating about the poor state of the Russian army since the start of the invasion. The soldiers of the 11th Army Corps, part of the Baltic Sea Fleet, had to watch as the shortages of equipment and men grew by the day from July. ‘Quadcopters!!!’, an officer writes on July 19 on a paper with the daily briefing. ‘Fast!’ His unit desperately needs the civilian drones, which can be bought in stores, to find out what the Ukrainians were saying.

Hours later, the Ukrainian army goes on the offensive at the village of Hrakove. A Russian soldier reports to the headquarters in Balaklia, which is located in a repair shop, that they are being overrun and must withdraw. “The ammunition is running out,” the staff officer writes in his notebook. A platoon commander refuses to obey an order from his superior to ‘send his soldiers into artillery fire’. When reinforcements are sent and the Russians regain control of the area, the balance is taken: seven dead, 39 wounded and 17 missing soldiers.

On the run

The shortage of men will become even greater in the weeks that follow. Ukrainian attacks are on the rise and rumors of a major offensive are building. The Russians intercept, among other things, calls from telephones registered in the Netherlands. At the end of August, just before the Ukrainian counter-offensive, the army in and around Balaklia is only 71 percent of its strength. Some units are even worse off. For example, one of the battalions has only 49 of the 240 men left.

There is also a shortage of armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, ammunition and drones. On September 6, the Ukrainian army opens the big attack. Shortly afterwards, the command center in Balaklia is hit in a precision attack. The bodies of dozens of Russians are being pulled from the rubble. On September 8, residents watch Russian soldiers throw away their weapons and flee across the road.

The writer of the notebook, whose identity is unknown, describes in one of his last contributions how he sees his future. It is a year later and he lives in a town near the Chinese border, about 7,000 kilometers from Balaklia. “I have a good time in Khabarovsk with my family, with my wife and my daughters.”