Retreating from Debaltseve: “They Gave Us ’Green’ Corridor with Grads and Tanks”

Ukrainian forces surrendered their positions in Debaltseve and the surrounding area. As they told to Hromadske journalists, commanders of the Russian-backed separatists promised a safe corridor, but the troops came under constant bombardment on their way to government-controlled territory. Not every soldier survived. Most of the 128th Mechanised Brigade, 30th Mechanised Brigade, Kryvbas Battalion and the police volunteer battalion Lviv managed to make it. Some of the soldiers and officers have been taken as prisoners of war, although the exact number is still unknown. By midday of Wednesday, February 19, around 100 wounded soldiers had arrived at the hospital of Artemivsk – a town nearby. Hromadske reporters have counted at least 40 bodies at the Artemivsk morgue. The army representatives told Hromadske that it was the lack of technical equipment that prevented them from holding their position in and around Debaltseve. // Video by Nastia Stanko, Konstantin Reutski and Anna Tsygyma. Filmed Get up