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Ukraine’s defence ministry has fired a top commander after photos emerged of a group of emaciated soldiers who have been left on the frontline for months without proper food and water.

The scandal erupted after the wife of one of the soldiers, Anastasiia Silchuk, posted the images on social media. The four men appeared to be pale and visibly malnourished, with prominent ribcages and thin arms.

The soldiers had spent eight months defending a shrinking bulge of territory on the left bank of the Oskil River, near the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, their relatives said. Supplies of food and medicines could only be flown in by drone.

“When the lads arrived at the frontlines, they weighed over 80–90kg. But now they weigh around 50kg,” Silchuk posted. After one delivery, she said, no more food turned up for 10 days. The soldiers were forced to drink rainwater and melt snow to survive.

“The longest they went without food was 17 days. They weren’t listened to on the radio, or perhaps no one wanted to listen to them. My husband shouted and begged, saying there was no food and water,” she said, adding that the problem was bigger than just one case.

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[-] Ophrys@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

I truly was shocked to discover that these men were not uks prisoners in Russia but Ukrainian combatants in the front line who haven't eaten for 17 days.

Really? Ukrainian army is so unbelievably corrupt, as long as you can't cough up +2000€ to bribe the officer you will just get sent to the slaughterhouse to get murdered bybsome drone, all for nothing.

Ukraine is seeing record numbers of desertion for a good reason, pretty much every house is probably hiding someone at this point. But I guess we're all supposed to cheer and clap like a bunch of hungry seals.

[-] hietsu@sopuli.xyz 15 points 21 hours ago

I think you accidentially wrote Ukraine when bringing up this point about Russia?

this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
361 points (100.0% liked)

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