“There was no need to lay thousands of people down”: a serviceman criticized the operation in Krynky in Kherson Oblast

Marine Serhii Volynskyi, who defended Mariupol and the Azovstal steel plant, called the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ operation in Krynky, in the Kherson region, a failure of the command and a tragedy.

He said this in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.

According to Volynskyi, the key miscalculation of the operation was the lack of objective intelligence data, and the operation went off plan at the very first stage. Therefore, the troops should have been withdrawn rather than left out in the open without cover.

“It so happens that decisions here are made based on the talents of commanders. But if we relied on objective intelligence data, and leaders and intelligence chiefs provided an objective picture and how events were developing, I think such situations wouldn’t arise… If we clearly see we have no success, we don’t need to lay down thousands of people on those cold shores. Why did we continue this whole spectacle? I think someone took on the obligation at the first stage and then simply couldn’t walk back their words. If the contingent sent to that sector of the front couldn’t protect the sky, why leave people in soggy ground? This is a very great tragedy, and I think we still need to analyze these tragedies. We must not focus only on victory tracks, because that won’t lead to anything good,” Volynskyi said.

He suggested that holding the bridgehead in Krynky was practically an impossible task in principle, because in wet soil it is impossible to “create any kind of engineering line, because everything gets flooded with water”—it is “very frightening, hard work,” especially when bombs are constantly falling overhead due to a lack of air defenses and a lack of support from aviation strikes.

Asked about losses in Krynky, he replied: “I am sure it is thousands of people. I know that more than a thousand servicemen are currently listed as missing… And I think it’s a gigantic failure, a tragedy, and hell.”