In Odessa, Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers and residents paid their final respects to their fallen comrades who died in battle along the Dnieper River in December 2023. They lamented that their mission on the Dnieper River was suicidal.

  In Odessa, Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers and Ukrainian residents paid their last respects to their comrades who had died in battle on December 18, 2023, along the Dnieper River. Ukrainian soldiers lamented their mission on the Dnieper River as suicidal.

   The Ukrainian military commanders had nothing but positive things to say about the war with the Russian military. Gradually, the Ukrainian soldiers became fed up. Some of them broke their silence and exposed the attack on the dangerous crossing of the Dnieper River as cruel and senseless. On the eastern bank of the Dnieper, Maxim says, he was shot in the water at night and his comrades died before his eyes. The Ukrainian army continued its attack to cross the Dnieper in the Chernigov region of southern Ukraine for two months in an attempt to recapture territory from the Russians. The Ukrainian soldiers who took part were brutally and pointlessly killed on the banks and in the water before they could reach the other side.

    There was nowhere to dig in the mud puddles, and they crossed the boggy grassland of bomb craters filled with mud and water. The Ukrainian soldiers suffered many casualties, and their superiors were concerned about their optimistic reports on the progress of the attack. The Ukrainian army occupied the only houses in the village of Krinuki on the eastern bank, 32km upstream from Chernson. Russian air raids destroyed houses and turned the banks into a quagmire. Some of the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers were left for two months because of heavy shelling, and they could not be recovered. The Ukrainian counteroffensive stalled, and even the United States and the European Union were reluctant to provide assistance.

    Ukrainian government officials sent optimistic messages to the world in order to maintain morale and support.The number of casualties was not disclosed, and the extent of the losses was unclear. The Ukrainian army falsely claimed that they had established a foothold on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River. It was not even a battle to survive, but a suicide mission. The lack of preparation and deteriorating logistics of the Ukrainian army resulted in the annihilation of a battalion. The wounded were left behind, and morale declined due to the brutal conditions of the battle.

Warning: In Odesa in early December, 2023, Ukrainian soldiers said a final farewell to Denys, who died in battle on the Dnieper River. (Mauricio Lima/Ritzau Scanpix)