Voloshchenko: Bakhmut stands and chops up Russian intentions to further seize more strategic towns

As part of the "Orestocracy" project, I talked with the military, the defender of the city, Peter "Stone" Voloshchenko. In the interview you will find everything: both military humor, and reality about the stubbornness of enemies, and confidence in our warriors, who are furiously approaching victory ... as well as touching stories about people and their tragedies.

"Stone" told how he became the godfather and guardian angel of the seven-year-old Stas from Bakhmut. To do this, it was necessary to organize a whole rescue operation, in which many units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were involved. They took a desperate risk because they promised the boy to take him out. "And that's right. Every person is important to us," Voloshchenko said.

And this video is about the powerful and at the same time positive energy of the defenders of Bakhmut. As long as such people fight for us, our victory is inevitable.

Less words. Just watch this video.

- You are now right under Bakhmut. Can you please tell me what's going on there?

- Terrible battles are going on in Bakhmut, the enemy is trying to bring at least something to the table of his bunker, so he attacks from three sides. Nothing changes in Bakhmut: they first tried to enter from the south, and even had some success, they came very close to the strategic Konstantinovka-Bakhmut highway, but the normal team we work with pulled up, and we distributed them there. We even went into their first trenches, which they dug for themselves there. In the south, the situation is tense, but more or less stable. And then they moved to the north and there they press quite hard. They passed Yagodnoye and Berkhovka and poked their head out a little there, not as scary as it had been drawn on the maps the other day. I have said and will continue to say: filter some information, trust those who can directly say what is going on there.

Now the situation is difficult, but upon the arrival of General Syrsky, a meeting was held and a decision was made not to give Bakhmut away. Now reinforcements have already arrived to us, we have equipment, ammunition, and the guys are pouring abundantly. We have pretty good heights there, this is Chasov Yar, and from there the whole picture opens up plus good interaction. All this together gives the result.

I urge you to stop panicking, you need to trust that the Defense Forces and the command are doing everything right. Bahmut fulfills his role strategically. Waves of enemy attacks are simply breaking up there, there are thousands of dead there, they have now thrown all their main forces on this fortress city. The elite troops are already on the move. At first they threw anything, and now they are already sacrificing the expensive one they were preparing, possibly for Kyiv. Bakhmut is a fortress that cuts down their intentions to further capture cities and towns that are more strategic for them. Now everything is going hard, but our forces are holding the line.

- There is a meme on the Internet that the Russians could take Poland in two hours and Berlin in a day, but for some reason they went to Bakhmut and got stuck there. In your opinion, what is the symbolism of Bakhmut both for us and for the orcs?

“Two of the strongest armies have converged here now. We showed ourselves not only on the defensive side, but also as successful counterattacks. We also use aviation, and they are shocked by this.

Bakhmut is strategic for us, because he holds almost the entire Bakhmut arc and performs a strategic task - he pulled over the main striking forces of the enemy. If they are already abandoning the marines, paratroopers, this is already some kind of despair among the enemy, they have run out of trench troops. The "cook" wants to show that he knows how to cook something, but so far he hasn't cooked anything for the prisoners. "Put" 20 thousand, and we even have a suspicion that they have already begun to withdraw their elite units from the African corps, and possibly even from Syria. We are helping the whole world, everyone should already understand that Ukraine is now playing a strategic role in the destruction of the evil that has spread not only on our continent.

Therefore, about Poland and Germany - a pretty good meme. I think it would. Here we still have something like this: "To see Bakhmut and die." Bakhmut, as a line of defense, distracted the Russians from their attempts and thoughts to go to the Kharkiv region, to go with more significant forces to the same Liman. They all pull up here and die here in batches. Today, there is no point in leaving Bakhmut.

- If the orcs captured Bakhmut, then they would have the prospect of reaching the borders of both the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, this would be a great chance for them. Who is more in your area now: regular troops or these under-zeks?

“They are throwing regular troops with artillery support at our site, they have already realized that they can’t take the city just like that. At first, their tactic was to "throw bodies", but carcasses tend to end. Moreover, they had a goal to take the city before the end of February, but now the weather is in our favor. And when we are ready to counterattack with an iron fist and with trained units, I think they will already be exhausted and we will put them in black soil.

Now they are moving towards the airplane, but I will tell you one secret why they cannot get through to it. Airplane is the southern gate of Bakhmut. This is the entrance from Konstantinovka to Bakhmut, there is such a MiG-17, and they want to get to it and take a selfie, but so far their "zoom" does not allow this. The terrain is again for us - the plane is on the mountain, they need to overcome this slope. You see, it’s physically impossible to reach this height there just like that, it is under the fire bag.

Therefore, I want to emphasize: all these sketches on the maps only look rather menacing. If they were not near Bakhmut, but near another place, perhaps it would be time to think about how to get out with minimal losses so as not to fall into a siege, but the city of Bakhmut stands on a mountain. It reminds something of the hills of Pechersk. And so the commander weighed all this, the chief of staff arrived, met with everyone, talked, checked their watches and decided: the enemy has no success. Now in Bakhmut it is possible to stabilize the super-difficult situation.

- Is there a difference in the tactics of offensive attempts between "cooks", prisoners and professional soldiers?

- Yes, the tactics have changed, we are watching how they no longer die on straight legs, but in various other positions. They are trying to cheat. Stupid zeks quickly run out, they basically launch them into minefields, as well as to highlight our points, and then "pour" them there. And even on their own. Therefore, their prisoners act as living "shaheeds" or living GPS. This is a completely inhumane tactic. I think that sooner or later their high command will be responsible for all this, and they will be very tough for all actions against these people.

The convicts are followed by regular troops, tactically trying to enter, occupy areas. If we don’t knock them out, they bring up portable systems, LNG, then some small BRDM comes in, but our artillery takes them apart a little.

- Recently, the story of Vuhledar, where the Russians lost 130 tanks and military vehicles, has spread all over the world. The American press writes that this is a manifestation of the shortsightedness of the Russian army - that they still let their tank units in columns that are easy to shoot. Have there been any such incidents in your area?

- They were very blunt in the south when they occupied Kleshchievka. They moved very actively in columns, and we were even in shock: what is happening? Maybe you've seen the movie? In general, they went out into an open area, there is such a landscape, this is the Konstantinovka-Bakhmut highway, which is very long, and they stretched out to the full length. Our gunners had such an upsurge, they piled on the enemy there, destroyed so much equipment. They could use it differently, more rationally, but where are the Russians and where is the rationality.

There were attack aircraft of this "cook", and we went to the trick. Their tank leaves, followed by another - no one is working on these goals from our side. They begin to pull up two tanks, four "behi", then they go armored personnel carriers full of infantry. Here is another matter. They enter the square 333 by 333, and at the moment there is such a concert by Kobzon - it's a pleasure to watch. So they lost the initiative on the southern flank.

– There is a lot of information that Russia lacks heavy equipment. How is your direction?

- They threw everything in our direction, that is, they put a lot of equipment and lose a lot. The main blow is now concentrated here. In the east, they climb through residential areas. It’s like the lunar surface there, they destroy all the buildings to the foundation. Heavy equipment cannot enter there, because there are ruins and there they will not have maneuvers. We forced them to go out into the open fields. Because the technique climbs, and due to this it becomes easier. They broke through from the north, where Krasnogorovka is, they had successes there, but now this has also stopped. In another section, they stopped where they were rushing to Liman. From there, everything is filmed and transferred to Bakhmut. Therefore, I think that our generals and command understand that if we finish them off here now, they will not have heavy equipment at all. But for now, they have enough.

“It’s easier for them to lose a thousand or two mobs and prisoners than to upset their supreme bunker commander.

- I completely agree. We reached a good figure, there were both a thousand and 1080 killed per day, these are only confirmed ones. But you understand that now it will be even worse for them, because they are already entering the suburbs, and then Bakhmut himself, and we were preparing for street battles, we have everything arranged there. They will get into fire bags, our guys have night vision devices and thermal imagers, our snipers are working. Sooner or later, this will lead to dire consequences along the entire front line.

– How many civilians are in Bakhmut now?

“My brother and I developed very complex operations, where people, children, families, even animals were pulled out. I can say that in this hellish place there are about 4,000 civilians and, unfortunately, up to a hundred children.

Do you have an explanation why they stayed there?

- In each period of the defense of Bakhmut, different conclusions came to us. In one period - because it was not so intense, then we knocked them out of the Kharkiv region and Kherson. In another period, many volunteers began to help Bakhmut, they took everything there: stoves, heaters, gas stoves, generators, starlinks, clothes, food, opened one "point of invincibility", a second, a third. There is a category of people who are already used to: "I will die here." It is not a fact that they are waiting for the Russians, they are just in despair, they need to talk more with them. But, unfortunately, we don't have time for that right now. It takes us all the time to help the wounded, to rotate.

But it's good that there are fewer people. That week there were 7,000, and when the orcs went ahead, 4,000 remained. That is, people still go out on rural roads, we take them out on armored vehicles.

- I heard a touching story that you became the godfather for the seven-year-old boy Stas. Can you tell?

– It was a super-complicated operation, for me it was a special challenge. We went around the yards, it was already getting dark, the shelling intensified, there was heavy ice. It was difficult to move around, we could not pass one street, because there was an arrival, a funnel was knocked out, and we turned into a detour, into another courtyard. And we got into this yard, you know, this is some kind of fate. I get out of the car and see this boy with a pickaxe, the handle is half broken off, the pickaxe was miner's, and he helped his father chop wood, which was brought by the guys from the State Emergency Service.

I was shocked by the boy. He approached me of all, just approached and said: "Let me show you something." He led them to the outer entrance, their house was almost on the first line of shelling, and he ran there. And everything burned down there, all these quarters from above were scorched. He took me to his apartment, there was a big hole, the partitions were broken, the concrete of the ceiling was already askew. And he shows me the window: it flew here, we lived there. I met him and promised: "Stas, I'll take you out of here," although at that time my mother was categorically against it. I'll tell you honestly, only because of this, the guys did not believe in me. But I promised this child that I would take him out.

Then we went there again, three weeks later. I went to them, we were talking under shelling, we were sitting in this apartment, they were almost alone in the entire nine-story building. There's just desolation, it looks like in an apocalyptic movie. I say: "How can you, such a normal family, you have such a cat, everything is like that, such children." There is also his older brother Lesha - a good, modest guy. I say: "I'll take you out." Plus, four more shells flew into the yard, these are generally terrible things. They promised to think. I was in shock: well, how can this be, how much time has been lost. We go out, my friend says to me: "They won't leave." Then our father runs after us, shouting: "I ask you, I believe you, Peter, I will persuade my wife, my son wants, Stasik wants, I ask you, we are waiting for you." I gave them two days. But two days later I failed, because there was no necessary transport. But I found beads. Behind the wheel was an acquaintance, a former fighter from the 80th brigade, he arrived in Konstantinovka, and from there we drove to the breakthrough.

There was a whole operation there, even SOF snipers, flyers, a rifle battalion, two more tanks that saw us through, and two jeeps were involved. I invested in myself, and we did this business. We break into the yard, the neighboring entrance has already collapsed, an unexploded shell from the "Grad" was sticking out right on the road, there was an arrival right into the children's carousel. I fly into the house, there is no one, the windows are broken, I think: they died. But I look - my boy and a cat are sitting in the window. I go in, I have this video, because I started filming, and they are all waiting, in complete darkness in the apartment, they are already dressing, their suitcases are ready. And I stayed four days. Stas says: "I have already prayed."

- This is an illustration of the fact that for us every life is important, valuable. Did you take the whole family out or just the boy?

- Everyone: father, mother, older brother, younger and even the cat Marquis. I found a very good apartment for them, I already have a job, I communicate two or three times a day with the boy. You can go to my Facebook page or TikTok, I post there, he calls me all the time, we talk, I became his godfather. I went to Chernivtsi and became his godfather for real, as it should be. Now I am his guardian angel to the end.

- The story is fantastic. How did these people live there? There are no shops, no water, no heat, probably no light. What did they expect? That is, there were no prospects, even if they were sure that this area would not be destroyed, what could they count on?

“They rely only on the help we bring them. Volunteers, for example, bring to Konstantinovka what they want to convey, and we take the remaining people to the city. We know where they are sitting, in what basements, there are "points of indestructibility" with generators, and we bring them there.

- Syrsky came to you at the front line. How much does it motivate the fighters when the commander of the whole direction comes and walks next to you in the trenches and dugouts?

- It's very motivating. Here is the result for you: the south is holding out, the east is holding out, the line has leveled along Bakhmut.

What does "victory" mean to you?

- Do not deviate from the goal either militarily or politically, do not make any compromises, only the 1991 borders. I want to go to Simeiz, I know that Crimea will be returned and Donbass will be ours. You can not agree to any compromises with the enemy, you need to go to the end. We fight for our people, sooner or later everything will change for the better.

- The last question, the answer to which all Ukraine wants to know. When do you think victory will come?

- When is the victory? There is already a victory. Bakhmut proved that this is a very strong army, very brave people. The motivation is furious, in a good way furious, and we will not retreat anywhere from here, we can only retreat as heroes, all this direction shows how motivated our army is.