MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. Severe frosts turned Ukrainian shelters in the Kupyansk-Uzlovoy area of the Kharkov Region into death traps, captured soldier Dmitry Kushnirenko said.
"Water is knee-deep in the dugouts, and in some places even waist-deep. In some cases, the exits from the burrows froze over. They couldn’t get out and froze to death," he said in a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry.
The captive added that it is impossible to warm up in dugouts because drones immediately fly toward any fires. "They detect you through heat," Kushnirenko explained.
According to him, Ukrainian soldiers have only two options: freeze to death or retreat under fire from Ukrainian blocking detachments positioned behind the lines. "Whether we freeze or run, it’s death anyway. All our guys who left were killed in the Kasharovsky Forest. Nazis from the first brigade are stationed there. They kill everyone who goes to Oskol," the prisoner said.